The Last Heir of Gryffindor (Original)
by hiraetheart
Summary: Of the four Hogwarts founders, only the Gryffindor family remained strong, guidimg the world through the ages. That is, until Voldemort happened, wiping them all out in a single night, except Aeliana. The sole survivor of her house, she must decide between revenge for her family and love for her friend, Sirius Black.
1. I:ToLoseOneParent

• — • — •

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

-OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

The day started off as just another normal Thursday, or at least as normal as it gets at Hogwarts, which admittedly wasn't saying very much. Double Potions and then double Herbology. Yuck and yuck, no offense intended to Slughorn or Sprout. The week was almost over, however, so things were undoubtedly looking up. Aeliana already made plans for the weekend to sneak off campus with Sirius and a few others through some hidden passageway they had recently unearthed, despite Dumbledore's numerous warnings. The number of mysterious disappearances had been increasing exponentially those last few months, but they told themselves the likelihood of anything happening in Hogsmeade, of all places, was slim enough to be worth the risk, and they would all be together, so everything would be fine.

Probably.

Sirius and James were idiots, after all, and idiocy didn't count for nothing.

Turned out it wasn't their own safety they needed to worry about.

Aeliana had been too embroiled in painstakingly chopping her pickled bat spleen into precisely even pieces— Professor Slughorn had warned them that uneven slices could turn the potion from a gnome repellent into a hair growing solution, and she had no intention whatsoever of spending the rest of the day trying to rid herself of a beard— to notice Professor McGonagall marching into the classroom.

"Ms. Gryffindor."

Aeliana jerked reflexively at the interruption, knife slashing down upon her glorified bird organ in a diagonal motion, ruining fifteen minutes of maddening work. She stared at the spoiled fruits of her labor in undiluted horror.

"Ms. Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall repeated, breaking Aeliana grudgingly from her distressed state, the professor's tone uncharacteristically tender.

"Yes, Professor?" Aeliana scrambled to her feet, bench scraping loudly against the floor behind her.

Everyone went quiet. It wasn't everyday that McGonagall personally came to reprimand someone in another professor's class. Aeliana could practically sense all the ears perking up, fishing for gossip. The gossip-mill has been rather lacklustre in recent days, leaving many in need of thee fix.

"Please, follow me. No need to grab your things," McGonagall added, as Aeliana started packing her bag. McGonagall peered around the room over thin-rimmed spectacles. "Evans, at the end of class, return Gryffindor's things to your dormitory."

"Yes, professor," Lilly responded, arching a brow at Aeliana.

Aeliana shrugged. She had no clue either.

Without further ado, McGonagall swept out of the room, leaving Aeliana to follow. Across the room, Sirius shot her a quizzical look.

"Is little-miss-perfect actually in trouble?" he asked, deliberately exaggerating his shock. "James, quick! Mark today on your calendar, because this has to be a first."

"Ha. Ha." Aeliana rolled her eyes, before striding for the door. She paused at the frame to send him one last warning glare, saying, "If I find out this is your fault, you'll be sorry."

To her surprise, it was not to her own office that McGonagall guided her to, but Dumbledore's. Aeliana couldn't help but ask herself what she could possibly have done in the past few days to warrant a punishment directly from the headmaster. Truth be told, she actually had done quite a few things to potentially warrant Headmaster-ly intervention over the years, but she was careful enough to make sure she was never caught.

My father is going to end me, she thought to herself as the door to Dumbledore's office swung open to reveal both him and the current Minister of Magic looking like they'd just returned from a funeral.

Aeliana hesitated over the threshold, floored at the unexpected fourth party. The Minister was involved in this, too? Even Sirius and James had never done anything bad enough to rope the Minister into the equation.

If I'm getting in trouble for one of James' and Sirius' pranks I'll castrate them both... Aeliana promised herself, and the thought managed to restore some of her good humour.

"Ah, there you are. Aeliana, it would be best if you took a seat." Dumbledore gestured to a simple, comfortable looking chair across his desk. "I'm afraid you are not here under the best of circumstances. There has been some terrible news."

"Okay..." Aeliana glanced nervously between the two professors and the Minister, who was fidgeting with his bowler hat, looking anywhere but her. Uncertainly, she sat down. "What do you mean, 'terrible news?'"

The question was greeted with silence. The Minister appeared as though he'd been force fed the gnome-repellent Aeliana had been working on in Slughorn's class, while Professor McGonagall let loose what sounded suspiciously like stifled a sniffle.

Dumbledore sighed. "Aeliana, I'm afraid there has been another attack."

Aeliana couldn't shake the dread that birthed itself in her stomach at the words, a mixture of fear and trepidation. That's not what she had been expecting this meeting to be about, but she should have known, nonetheless. The attacks had been growing increasingly deadly as of late, despite the best efforts of the most powerful wizards of the age, like Dumbledore and her father and brother. Only last weeka prominent Ministry official had vanished with what could only be werewolf marks left all over his house.

"Was it the Death Eaters again?" Aeliana said in disgust, leaning forward precariously on her chair and placing her hand on Dumbledore's desk for support. "The poor family... Who was attacked this time?"

"We wanted to be the ones to tell you, before the news breaks." A pause. Professor Dumbledore reached over his many trinkets scattered atop his desk to squeeze her hand. Looking into her eyes, a few shades darker than his own, he cautiously began, "I'm so sorry Aeliana. There is no good way to say this."

"Say what?" she asked, growing concerned over the pitying looks she was receiving from the adults in the room. "Just tell me who was killed, so I can have Father send their poor family help."

"Aeliana... you're father was among those attacked," Dumbledore informed her gently.

Aeliana felt her throat go dry, as if someone had used a jynx to replace it with sand paper. "But he's alright though," she managed to get out.

The Minister looked away, but, to his credit, Dumbledore did not. "No, Aeliana. There were no survivors."

She suddenly couldn't breathe.

"That's not possible," she choked. "I only received and owl from him yesterday! And— And no one is more powerful than my father! No one! Especially not while the rest of the family nearby to protect him!"

"It wasn't just him, my dear girl," Dumbledore continued sadly, the age lines in his wrinkled face more pronounced than ever. "Your entire family... they have all perished. You are all that's left. You alone weren't home during the attack."

She didn't notice herself falling to the floor until she felt multiple pairs of weathered hands lifting her up. Words were being thrown around nearby, but she couldn't make out meaning through the roaring in her ears.

"No." She could feel herself hyperventilating, stuck in an endless loop of hearing the dreaded news over and over again. "No, no, no, no-"

Strong hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her, though not unkindly. Aeliana looked up to discover worried blue eyes boring into hers through half-moon spectacles. "-Aeliana, take deep breaths. In and out. Yes, just like that. Now, again-"

"You're lying!" she protested, shaking her head vigorously. "My brother and father were too powerful to lose! They can't be dead! They can't be! You're wrong! No one could possible kill all of them!"

"Please, child-" the Minister attempted to soothe her, but she couldn't take any more.

Aeliana shrugged off Dumbledore's hold, only to step back into Professor McGonagall. Whirling past her, Aeliana lunged out the door before anybody could collect enough wits to stop her.

She flew down the spiral staircase, catching her robe on the golden gargoyle statue. When multiple hard yanks wouldn't dislodge it, she whipped out her wand and simply cut the offending piece of cloth free. She needed to get away from there. It couldn't be true. They were lying.

Students began pooling into the halls as classes came to a close. She shoved past meandering bystanders, earning herself confused and reproachful looks.

The halls gradually cleared as pupils spilt into their next classes. Before long, Aeliana couldn't see through the moisture coating her eyes, but kept on running, until she felt a force violently yanking her back, practically dislocating a shoulder.

"Bloody hell, have you lost your mind? Pay attention to where you're going, Lia!" a familiar voice admonished. "If you're going to try flying, use a broomstick, idiot. The moving staircase isn't here right now, you almost ran right over the edge..." Sirius trailed off into concerned silence as he took her in. A handsome face framed with dark, shaggy locks peered closer, frowning. "Hey, what's wrong? Does it have to do with McGonagall pulling you out of Potions early? I swear, if you're this upset because you didn't get a perfect score on our last Transfiguration exam..."

"They're all gone, Sirius," she whispered more to herself than to him, collapsing at his feet as all fight left her body. "They can't be gone, but they are. Every last one."

"What? Who?" he demanded anxiously, shaking her shoulders. "Who's gone? You're not making sense."

Her nails dug so deep into her palms they drew blood, but she had never cared about anything less. If anything, she needed the pain. It didn't make sense to hurt so much without any physical injuries to match.

"I'm all that's left," said Aeliana, repeating Dumbledore's words as their full meaning took hold, like a fist squeezing tightly around her heart. "I'm all alone. They're all gone."

Vaguely, she noted Sirius's musky scent as he pulled her off the ground closer to his chest. He was warm, and felt like safety, a safety she knew she would never truly feel again without the weight of her father's protection hanging over her. She let herself sink into him without struggle, hardly even registering the frantic words coming out his mouth, asking over and over who was gone.

She didn't say. Couldn't. If she spoke the words aloud, they would become true, and she couldn't bear that. It couldn't be true. She couldn't be all alone.


	2. II:TheReaper

• — • — •

There is a Reaper whose name is Death,

And, with his sickle keen,

He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,

And the flowers that grow between.

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,

He kissed their drooping leaves;

It was for the Lord of Paradise

He bound them in his sheaves.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,

The Reaper came that day;

'Twas an angel visited the green earth,

And took the flowers away.

-HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

• — • — •

"I want to go home," Aeliana whispered, sounding like a stranger to her own ears.

"This is your home," the Minister of Magic said solemnly.

She wasn't so sure she _wanted_ it to be anymore. After Professor McGonagall tracked her down in the corridor, Aeliana demanded they let her return home, to prove them wrong, to show everyone that her family was just fine.

From there, time passed in a whirlwind until somehow she found herself standing in the Great Hall of Gryffindor Manor with the Minister of Magic and a slew of Aurors. Honestly, Merlin himself could have been draping himself buck naked across the couch and Aeliana knew she wouldn't have noticed. She only vaguely knew the Minister was there because he had been her escort. The Minister, a man of weak constitution, quickly complied to her demands when he became too flustered by her "unseemly" show of emotion.

She wanted to prove to herself it wasn't true. But now that she was there, she couldn't erase the truth. They were all gone. Every last one.

This place wasn't her home anymore. Not without them.

"Lia," Sirius began, "you shouldn't be here. You shouldn't see this."

Sirius, without her consultation, all but ordered Dumbledore to let him tag along, saying he wasn't going to just leave her with "this old sod," as he fondly referred to the Minister. For whatever reason, Dumbledore agreed. She wasn't really listening, though. Perhaps he made a good argument. It didn't seem too matter at the time, but now she was glad she had someone with her, even if it was only him.

Wordlessly shrugging out of his hold, Aeliana spotted a familiar form across the room. Her heart stuttered in the cage of her chest. There was no mistaking it.

"Caius," she breathed, voice cracking with repressed emotion. Her knees buckled and slammed into the plush, blood soaked carpet beside him.

He didn't move. His dark, oceanic eyes stared past her, unseeing. She was instantly trapped by their hollow depths, unable to look away. People always said they had the same eyes, just like their father's. It was the only feature that identified them as being related, she always thought, because his hair was darker, his skin tanner, and his features finer, stolen from paintings of a long dead prince. Now, the light behind his eyes had all been extinguished, like so many others before him in this war.

Sirius reached out a hand and carefully closed Caius's eyelids, like a curtains coming down at the end of a show.

With his eyes shut, the truth wasn't so clear. He might not be dead if his eyes were closed. Aeliana and Caius both deserved the lie that he could be sleeping. He would still wake up, ruffle her hair, and call her his "little monster," like he did when she was small, and then she would swat his hand away and tell him to stop calling her that, even though she never really minded.

"Er... you can't tamper with the crime scene, sir." an awkward voice behind Sirius intoned. "You shouldn't change anything..."

Before Sirius could respond, Aeliana cut in hollowly. "What's the point? We already know who did this."

It was obvious. Lia thought back to the one time she had actually seen Lord Voldemort in the flesh. He had come to her father nearly ten years back, trying to talk him into joining his little cult, but he promptly banished him from the grounds.

Aeliana wasn't supposed to have been there. Her father had told her in no uncertain terms to stay in her room, but even then she had a very loose relationship with authority and went to listen in anyway. She was only a child back then, maybe six or seven years old, but she still remembered Voldemort's face as he stormed out of the house. Skin too pale, eyes too bright, and face too serpentine. But the hate in his eyes... The look he gave her as he left was chilling, promising retribution. She dared not tell her father, because then he'd know she'd disobeyed.

Aeliana couldn't help but wonder, maybe if she had said something this wouldn't have happened.

"I'm so sorry, Caius," she whispered into her brother's hair, tears dripping slowly onto his face. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I messed up..."

"How could you think that?" Sirius protested, leaning down beside her. "This is not your fault. You had nothing to do with this- this-" He trailed off, gesturing about hopelessly.

Lia leaned back to soak in every detail of her brother for what she knew would be the last time. His wavy chestnut colored locks were messy, framing his face and nearly poking at his eyes, and his robes, despite the blood, were still as crisp and clean as ever. She didn't even want to know where the blood had come from.

A glint of gold around his neck caught her eye as she pulled away. With trembling fingers, she reached to pull out the long chain necklace carrying the pendent that signified the heir of her house. Caius had been destined to take over for their father as the head of the family in a few years. He'd been groomed for it since he the day he could crawl. What a waste.

Aeliana felt her hand tighten, subconsciously, around the pendant as she thought about the future he had stolen from him. The pain was welcome compared to the tears that just wouldn't stop.

"I should have been here, fought alongside the rest of you, but I didn't and now I'm all alone." Her voice shook as she ran a hand down his cheek. "How could you just leave me? You said it was an older brother's responsibility to protect his little siblings, but where are you now? You can't protect me if you're dead."

Unable to look at his ashen face for even a second longer, Aeliana glanced around the room, only to spot aunt on her side near the hearth. She had had a future, too, not to mention a son and daughter. She wondered what happened to them. They were so young... Unable to stomach where that train of thought headed, Lia forced herself to look away, when she spotted three unrecognisable bodies with their faces covered lying a few feet away. She couldn't help the hot rage bubbling up in her belly, ready to burst at the mere sight of them.

"_What are they doing here_?" she growled. "Those cowards don't deserve to be here, lying next to the people they murdered! Get them OUT!"

After a petrified nod from the Minister, a couple of Aurors waved their wands, taking the bodies away. Several departed along with the corpses.

Lia glanced back and forth between Caius and her aunt until she felt the walls begin to close in. Caius was too young, barely twenty-four. Too young to die, and far too good. He was meant to be great; he had been Head Boy and an heir the family could be proud of. How was it that such a magnetic presence could just vanish in an instant?

"I- I can't breathe... I need some air," Aeliana murmured to no one in particular, trying to force oxygen into her lungs by force of will alone.

A hand curled itself around her back, lifting her up off the ground.

"Everything is going to be okay," Sirius soothed.

"I- I just want to get some air."

Lia stood up abruptly, scrambling towards the door to the grounds, despite the frenzied protests of Sirius behind her. She just needed to get out. She didn't want to see the bodies anymore, she couldn't bear it. She thought she was strong enough, but she now knew she'd overestimated herself.

Aeliana threw open the great oak doors, only to fall short at the sight that awaited her.

More bodies.

She spotted her father first, then her mother, her uncles and aunt, even her grandfather. All lying lifeless upon the grassy ground, interspersed with perhaps a dozen intruders.

If Aeliana thought she had trouble breathing before, that was nothing compared to how she currently felt. Her muscles tensed into stone, rooted into spot as she took in a scene taken straight from her nightmares.

Sirius rushed out the door after her. "Bloody hell," he cursed. Coming to his senses, he shoved shoved behind his back to block the view, all the while still muttering under his breath, "_Bloody hell_..."

He was right. It _was_ a hell.


	3. III:StandAndWeep

• — • — •

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not their

I do not sleep

I am a thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain

I am the gentle autumns rain

When you wake in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight

I am the soft stars that shine at night

Do not stand at my grave and cry

I am not there

I did not die

-MARY FRYE

• — • — •

"We're all gathered here today to pay our respects to a great wizarding family and reconcile the loss we all feel..."

Aeliana ceased listening at the beginning of what was bound to be a long, meaningless eulogy. There were no words in existence to express the loss she suffered.

"And now, a member of the family would like to say a few words."

_A member of the family would like to do what now_? she thought absently to herself.

The man next to her, a young red-headed Ministry official her brother had once been friends with, subtly nudged her arm, breaking her from her reverie. She glanced at him briefly in acknowledgement, receiving a warm, yet sad smile in return.

Arthur. That was his name.

Lia rose to her feet and made her way to the podium. Behind her, thirteen coffins containing everyone she loved, and before her, hundreds of people she couldn't care less about. So many faces she'd never seen before; perhaps, some of her family's killers were among them.

"My entire family is dead." She waved a hand in their direction, going from the smallest coffin on the far left, to that of her father on the right. "Every. Last. One. Down to the very last child! My cousin Antony was only five years old and got murdered in his sleep. My cousin Ophelia and her twin Laertes were merely eight years old, and I had to see their bodies clinging to each other, defenceless and cornered into a wall." Her voice broke, but she pressed on. "Their parents were were murdered trying to buy them time to escape, but it still wasn't enough. they all died anyway. The Death Eaters and Voldemort were so afraid of my ancestor's legacy that they murdered three innocent children who had nothing to do with this filthy war!"

Aeliana could feel her temper growing with each passing second, so much so that she had to work to prevent herself from screaming out in frustration.

Breathing deeply to calm her erratic heart, she continued, "I know he wasn't a child, but Caius Godric Gryffindor is... was my only brother, the heir to our household, and he didn't deserve the fate he got dealt. The loss of him is the greatest tragedy of them all. He sent a patronus message to the Ministry to warn of the attack... and also the family sword of my house to Hogwarts; what we know of the attack mainly comes from his sacrifice. He was killed last, alone and surrounded by his enemies." She swallowed down the lump growing in her throat. "Lastly, my father, Valdus Godric Gryffindor. According to Caius, he was murdered by Voldemort himself.

"Men who break into houses and murder children in their beds are not great. They are _cowards_!" She slammed her fist into the podium, surprised it didn't splinter beneath the force. Several people looked up, startled, from wiping away tears. "People who break into people homes in the dead of night are not powerful. They are weak! They knew they could not take my family down on even ground, so, like the cowards they are, they ambushed them..."

Lia looked around at all those present, taking care to avoid eye contact. Remembering that some people here no doubt worked for that evil, murdering Dark Wizard, She clenched her teeth and plowed on with reckless abandon.

"I have no doubt that Voldemort has followers here this evening, corrupting a sacred passing on. My next words are to you: if you or your master are brave enough to attack an underage girl on equal terms, I am waiting. You were so afraid of children you had to murder them in the dead of night while they slept in their beds, so I don't hold much stock in your courage. Tell your Dark Lord I am not afraid, and neither should anyone else be. I will stand up for what is right, even if no one else will. I will carry on my ancestors' legacy."

With that, unable to contain her rage any longer, so she stormed off the stage and hurdled into her seat, staring straight ahead and not seeing or hearing for the remainder of the unbearably long ceremony.

To forego well wishers, Lia shot up from her seat at the funeral's conclusion. Dumbledore, as a representative of the school her ancestor founded, laid the Gryffindor family to rest with the flick of his wand, while Lia made a daring dash towards the manor. She, unfortunately, was somehow not faster than the hundred year old headmaster, and he stopped her before she could flee too far.

_I should really start doing cardio if I can't run faster than an old geezer_, she thought bitterly.

Dumbledore didn't speak, only held a light hand on her arm to prevent her oh-so-desired escape, until she finally looked up into his crystal blue eyes.

"I am afraid we have some unfortunate business to discuss, but I dare say you don't seem to want to enjoy the company here anyway?" he observed solemnly. "Let me deprive them of your presence for only a few moments."

With that, his grip on her arm tightened. She immediately felt her stomach lurch, feeling suddenly as though she was going to be sick. As soon as it began, it was over. The second she retouched ground, she keeled over, hacking up her lungs.

"This seems private enough," Dumbledore mused amiably, looking around at the plain surroundings.

Aeliana recognised this as a room in an old bar in Hogsmead. The Hogshead was anything but lavish; dust coated every surface the same way one might expect snow to coat the ground on a particularly cold winter night. Dumbledore pulled out his old wand to clear the grime from a pair of wooden chairs in the corner, indicating to Lia she should sit down.

She made no move to sit. "What am I doing here?"

"Please, sit. As I mentioned before, we have much to go over." He waited patiently until her curiosity got the better of her and she fell into the chair across from him before pressing forward. "As we mentioned in the owl we sent you earlier this week, you will not be expected to take the exams you missed in light of this tragedy."

Lia almost snorted when he said tragedy; that was the understatement of the century. The word was hollow and meaningless. And to even think she cared about her grades at this point was downright hilarious. She knew she must have made her thoughts clear on her face, because Dumbledore narrowed his eyes before continuing.

"Your teachers quite agree that your marks are good enough that you should move on to your seventh year unfettered."

The least of her worries, no doubt.

"The Ministry has designated that you be a ward of Hogwarts, at least for the next two months, until you turn of age at seventeen." He paused, waiting for a response, but she didn't deign to offer one. "The Sword of Gryffindor, naturally, will be returned to you-"

Lia cut him off. "Keep it. I don't care."

"You do care. You care too much, that's why you are upset."

"No. I really don't care." She set her features into their stoniest expression. "Caius sent the sword to Hogwarts for a reason, and it's not my place to revoke that decision."

Dumbledore reached across table to pat her hand comfortingly, while pulling out a necklace- _her brother's necklace_\- and dropping it onto her palm with his other.

"My dear girl, it is only your place. You are now the last Gryffindor, the last of your line."

Had she been old enough to apparate by herself, Aeliana would have been out of there in a second.

"Don't... don't say that!" she hissed. "I-I'm not- Caius is-"

"What happened to your family was horrible, but you must accept that they are gone. You can't move forward if you keep living in the past." Dumbledore peered over his half-moon spectacles, saying softly, "They wouldn't want you to suffer. By accepting your role as the head of the family, you can bring them justice."

She didn't want justice. She wanted revenge.

Still, she closed her fingers around the Gryffindor pendant. "Take me back, sir."

• — • — •

Dumbledore dropped Lia off suspiciously near where a certain group of troublemakers had huddled up after the funeral, leaving her a sitting duck for them to prey upon.

"There you are."

"We were looking for you."

"Yeah, sorry. I've got to go," she muttered noncommittally, brushing between Sirius and Remus.

An arm snapped out and took hold of her wrist.

"Let me go, Sirius."

"You're not being yourself, Lia. Come on, we're here for you. Don't push us away."

He sounded so desperate, she almost felt guilty when she said, "Take a hint already. I just want to be left alone."

"Lia..." Remus started sympathetically.

"Don't '_Lia_' me, Remus!" she snapped, feeling guilty immediately for taking her anger out on him. "Look, I'm sorry, but just leave me alone for awhile. I've got... things... I have to take care of."

"Come on. You shouldn't stay here alone." James sighed, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. "I'll ask my parents if you can come stay at my place."

"They're sure to say yes," Sirius assured her. "They're practically running an orphanage over there. I've been living there for months."

"Don't say that," James mock hissed, swatting at Sirius' head. "With you there, she definitely won't want to stay."

Peter tittered and Remus hid an amused smile, but Lia was not in the mood for their antics.

"No, thank you. I've a house all my own, so there's no point staying elsewhere," she answered curtly.

"Come on, Lia. What you said earlier, about not being afraid of Voldemort, it was brave and all, but if you weren't a target before, then you definitely are now."

Aeliana could hear James' tone grow more agitated with each word. Obviously this conversation was not going as he hoped.

"Did you actually believe all that crap?" She choked out a forced laugh. "I only said what was expected of me, as the last of my house. Everyone is too stupid and cowardly to make a move without our guidance, apparently."

She wasn't sure why she was lying. Maybe it was the fact that they thought they understood. There was James, who had a perfect, living family, and Sirius, who would be more than happy if all his relatives dropped dead. What could they possibly understand about what she was going through? The mere thought was infuriating.

"If you'd kindly escort yourself from the property," she said, gesturing vaguely towards the front gates. "I've got too much to do already without babysitting you lot."

Admittedly, Lia's storming off would have looked much more convincing if she hadn't come to a halt outside of the oak doors leading inside the manor. It was only a momentary hesitation before she slipped inside, but she couldn't help but feel dread at the thought entering the place where her family perished. When she closed her eyes, she could still see their bodies littering the ground, still smell the iron tang of their blood in the air.

Lia swallowed back the weakness and pushed foreword until she reached the library. It was the perfect base for what she had in mind. It housed thousand year old manuscripts that could be found no where else in the world, along with the shining bonus that, as far as she was aware, no one had ever died there.

She pulled various tomes from the shelves, grumbling when she climbed the bookcases like ladders to get the books that were higher up. As soon she turned seventeen, she wouldn't have to deal with that muggle nonsense.

After a near fall from the top, she threw herself, exhausted, onto one of the plush chairs, with the books scattered around. The nature of the books varied from defence, to charms, dark arts, history, and even genealogy. If she was going to avenge her family, she needed to know as much as possible about her enemy and about magic. She swore she would become stronger than Voldemort, stronger than Dumbledore, the strongest witch to ever live. And then she would crush him for what he'd done.


	4. IV:Idiots

• — • — •

_"Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience_."

-GREG KING

• — • — •

Eleven hours, three books, and two mental breakdowns later, Aeliana still hadn't found what she was looking for. Granted, she wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for, maybe an "Ah hah!" moment, but she certainly hadn't found it yet.

Her cat, however, was waging a constant crusade to capture her attention.

"I don't love you enough for this," Lia told her after must have been the tenacious feline's fiftieth time jumping onto her book and laying luxuriously across the pages while Lia attempted to read.

Lia leaned forward to massage the kitten's fluffy, orange scalp, when a movement in her periphery caught her attention.

Heart hammering in her chest, she leapt to her feet, snatching her wand from off the redwood desk. She made a vain attempt to slow her breathing and ducked back into an alcove behind her, silently cursing herself for only lighting the one candle that afternoon when she walked inside, since it was nearing midnight and she could barely see a thing.

_This is how people get murdered in those silly muggle movies Lilly forces me to watch_, she chastised herself.

Well, as much as she was tempted to, she wasn't going to ask "Who's there?" and give away her location. Perhaps Voldemort and his followers actually _did_ take offence to her calling them cowards, just like Sirius said they would. Some people take things so personally.

From off in the shadows, a short figure shuffled forward, but instead of sending Lia into a cursing frenzy, her shoulders slumped and she lowered her wand.

"You know, I don't actually own a dog, Sirius."

"What are you talking about?" he replied in his most annoying, faux flirtatious voice, morphing back into a man in the blink of an eye. "You already own me, don't you?"

He winked suggestively, trying to lighten the mood, but, like the last time they'd met, she wasn't having it.

"How did you manage to get inside? This place should be locked up tighter than Azkaban," she asked, annoyed.

"And what? Are you the resident dementor?" He grinned at her deepening scowl.

"I'll do more than suck out your soul if you don't get out of here in the next three seconds..." she muttered back murderously.

"Sweet pea, I'm counting on it."

Aeliana pushed past him, perhaps a _little_ rougher than strictly necessary, to go check if she left a door unlocked, even though she knew she hadn't.

"Would you stop coming up with these stupid nicknames and get the hell out?" she exclaimed, as he followed her throughout the house while she double checked the locks and enchantments. "I thought I made it abundantly clear that I don't want you around, so just tell me how you got in and LEAVE."

"Well, sweetums, you're always telling me to piss off, so, as far as I'm concerned, nothing has really changed. Besides, I only give you these 'stupid nicknames' because your reactions to them are so blown out of proportion," he explained, pretending to examine his nail beds. "And as for how I got in, if I told you, you'd make it so I'm locked out, and we can't have that, can we?"

"Did it ever occur to you that OTHER people could use that same way to get access to my house?" she growled, having found no known breaches in the house's defences.

"Let's just say all the charms surrounding this place aren't fine tuned to keep this handsome dog out." His coquettish smile dimmed when Lia's hard expression didn't soften. "Fine! Remember that old passage you showed me when my parents forced me to come along on their meetings with your father when we were, like, seven?"

Lia cursed colourfully at her own stupidity. She hadn't thought about that passage in years, not since she began her first year at Hogwarts. Gryffindor Manor was nearly as old as Hogwarts itself, and therefore had its own abundance of hidden passages. Caius discovered that particular one in his own youth and showed it to Aeliana when he thought she was old enough to keep a secret. Apparently he somewhat overestimated her ability, for she showed Sirius the very next day.

Not to accuse her of conniving, but Lia always theorised that Sirius' mother brought Sirius over so frequently to try to ensure a 'good pure-blooded match' for her son. There were only the so many pure blooded families these days, and Lia was the only pure-blood within his age group that wasn't already a close relation. How disappointed Mrs Black must have been that they never really considered each other that way. All he'd ever been was Sirius Black, resident mischief maker and perpetual thorn in her side, while she was Aeliana Gryffindor, high-strung perfectionist and one of the few girls that didn't harbor any delusions about finally "capturing" him. She didn't have the time nor her father's patience to spare.

To be fair, his mother was disappointed in him for a lot more than not yet finding a pure-blood match. Sometimes Lia wondered if he'd marry a muggle woman just to spite her.

For the sake of honesty, Aeliana admitted she did fancy him at one point, long ago, when they were children, but then responsibility caught up with her like a train. She had no time to waste on pursuing any type of romantic relationship with anyone. The integrity of her house came first, second, and third. Even had she been interested, Sirius loved himself too much to ever really love another, as far as she was concerned. His cockiness grated on her nerves.

"As for the enchantments preventing people from entering your property," he continued, "I'm not always, strictly speaking, a 'person,' so I could just walk right on through."

Of course. The dog thing. Why hadn't _she_ thought of that?

"I'll be speaking to Dumbledore about this, but, for now, make yourself scarce. You can't just waltz on in like you own the place."

"Come now, dearest. You know you love me. You wouldn't just kick me to the curb would you?" he asked, leaning against the bannister.

Lia snapped.

"Would you stop calling me those bloody nicknames and breaking into my house when I don't want to see that irritating face of yours?" she seethed. "What part of 'I want to be alone' is so difficult for that inflated head to understand?"

Despite her yelling, that infuriating smile never left his face. He edged closer.

"I let you be alone, Lia. For almost a week, I might add. But where has that gotten you? Have you even slept since they died?" He demanded, placing both hands firmly on her shoulders. "I'm not going to just stand idly by and watch you waste away just to respect your wishes!"

"It's none of your business what I do." She shifted her gaze away, trying to keep the pain out of her voice as she said, "One day you'll just leave, too."

"You're my oldest friend, so you are my business," he said, pulling her in for a back breaking hug. "And I'm not leaving. Not ever."

"That's easy for you to say now," Aeliana muttered into the his robes. "Caius said the same thing."

"Did I stutter?" he asked, his lips curling into the whisper of a smile. "I said not ever, and I meant it. I won't even die unless you give me written permission two weeks in advance. Sound fair?"

She shook her head. "You're an idiot."

They both knew that's not what she really meant. He didn't comment when she held him tighter, the action speaking more than worlds ever could.

• — • — •

After complaining, yelling, swearing, and calling Sirius dozens of rude names not to be repeated in polite company, Aeliana finally accepted that he was there to stay. Grudgingly. She settled for ignoring his presence, which, as it turned out, was a rather difficult thing to do around an overgrown toddler.

"Don't think I won't break the statute on underage wizardry if it gets you to shut up," she threatened, turning a page of her book with as much menace as humanly possible.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, all-too-innocently, scratching her cat behind the ears while she purred contently on his lap.

Sirius made himself at home the last eight days since he arrived. Having been kicked out of his own house, no one expected him to return anywhere, which left him ample opportunity to haunt Gryffindor Manor indefinitely. He force fed Lia food he inexpertly threw together- it was obvious he had a house elf cooking for him his whole life- and would practically lie on top of her until she fell asleep each night. At least he allowed her to sleep in the library, which was some consolation. She was never in any mood to see the rest of the house, not when it would mean reliving the horrors that took place there.

Luckily, Sirius fell asleep long before her most days, so she could just wait until he was out cold and then push him aside to continue working, much to his constant annoyance whenever he'd wake up to find her hard at work hours later.

"I can't even imagine what you're so set on studying," he often complained. "We're on summer vacation for goodness sake."

"That's for me to know."

"And me to find out?"

"No."

Lia narrowed her eyes at the page she'd just turned to. To her surprise, apparently she was not the first person to look into this book in the past century, since there were notes jotted into the margins, with a few lines of text underlined for emphasis. If she wasn't very much mistaken, the handwriting looked eerily similar to her brother's.

_Caius, why were you reading a nasty little book like this_? she wondered.

Perusing his annotations carefully, she noted that the word _Horcrux_ kept on popping up. Unfortunately, she only had the vaguest ideas on what that actually was, other than the fact that her father said that it was incredibly dark magic and refused to speak more on the matter.

The whole concept of a Horcrux, as described by the book, gave Lia chills. What maniac would split their soul in half? Sounded painful and strangely slimy, for some reason. Regardless, she could see how murdering someone in order to become virtually invincible would appeal to some. Not her, but perhaps a certain someone she planned on murdering...

"Put this back," she ordered, not looking up as she pushed that text back and pulled _Genealogy of the Great Houses_ closer.

Aeliana felt more than saw Sirius pick up the thick tome and walk towards one of the bookshelves. "'_Dark Magicks for the Dark Soul_,'" he repeated. "Not to be redundant, but that's some dark stuff you're reading. What are you trying to get from _that_?"

Lia knew he was trying not to sound too accusatory, but could still make out slight condemnation in his tone.

"If you don't like what I'm doing, then you can leave," she offered, nodded to the door.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." He ran a hand through his long, dark hair, looking around for the right words. "It's just... what are you trying to do? What's worth using the dark arts?"

"I'm not using them," she corrected, then thought about it and amended, "Not yet, anyway.

With that, she turned back to the books and didn't speak to him for the remainder of the night, waiting impatiently for him to fall asleep, so she could gather more answers about why her brother was investigating Horcruxes, and see if it had anything to do with Voldemort.

She paused her page flipping to turn back to the front cover, frowning. She didn't remember grabbing this particular book from the shelves. It was full of the family trees of Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin stretching all the way down to her father's generation. Neat, but not what she needed.

When the sound of Sirius's light snores filled the air, Lia slid out of her chair as quietly as possible. She began to tiptoe past the couch where Sirius slept, but quickly backtracked to look through the pockets of his robes, pulling his wand free.

His snores hitched.

Lia froze, barely breathing. "Come on, go back to sleep," she whispered.

After another minute, he made no further moves, so she edged backwards, eyes on him, all the way out the door. Before she could cross the threshold, however, she fell over what she affectionately called a "kitty land mine" right onto her backside. Sabertooth the tabby darted off from underneath her, meowing what was bound to be all sort of cat profanities.

Lia gingerly rose back to her feet, pausing to check if the little misstep had awoken Sirius.

_Merlin's beard, he sleeps like the dead_, she mused to herself.

She carried herself swiftly through the manor and out the front doors without further incident, stopping briefly to snatch a dark cloak from a rack by the entrance.

Pulling the hood snugly over her head, Lia set off at a brisk pace through the crushing rain to the gates of the property where Dumbledore's enchantments had no effect. Once outside, she Apparated using Sirius's wand, so as not to trigger the underage wizarding clause, landing outside of a large townhouse she remembered from a visit she'd made with her father, years before.


	5. V:Bored

• — • — •

_My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's._

_-OSCAR WILDE_

• — • — •

When the door to the hideously flamingo coloured townhouse pulled open, Aeliana could tell by the lady's face that it must have looked like she attempted to swim across the English Channel. The woman glanced around into the stormy night, seemingly reluctant to associate herself with Lia, until she pulled down her hood to reveal her face. The woman's demeanor changed almost immediately.

"Why, if it isn't Aeliana Gryffindor! Please, come in, come in!" She backed up to usher her inside, smiling an all-too-wide smile. The way it stretched across her entire face was slightly disconcerting, like a crazed Cheshire Cat.

"Hello, Mrs. Smith," Lia greeted politely, using Sirius's wand to create a wave of warm air to wash over her drenched clothes, drying them out. "It's been too long."

_Not nearly long enough, you old bat_, she thought privately.

"Oh, I know, sweetie," Mrs. Smith simpered. "It's a pity what happened your parents, by the way. I really wanted to attend the funeral, dear, but my husband and I were on vacation at the time and couldn't take the time to Apparate back. You understand!"

She batted Lia's upper arm playfully, who couldn't help but stare at her, slightly incredulous.

"Right." Aeliana took a deep breath, bracing herself for all the bullshit she would have to spew."I get it, ma'am. It's fine. So many others went, we barely had enough room for all the chairs, honestly."

"I heard it was the event of the season!" Mrs Smith gushed, placing a jewel-covered hand over her heart.

Swallowing down her disgust, Lia decided to get to the point so she could get the hell out of there fast.

"Mrs. Smith, I actually came here for a reason... well... curiosity mainly. I don't mean to intrude, but seeing as you are one of the last known descendants of Helga Hufflepuff, I was wondering if you knew the whereabouts of her cup? The Hufflepuff Cup, I mean."

Mrs Smith's expression soured. "Oh yes. _That_." She smacked her lips in distaste. "Well, I wish I could tell you otherwise, but," she hesitated, "it seems it's been... er... lost."

"Lost," Lia repeated, feeling a great sense of foreboding take hold. She pressed forward on the large chance that hopefully her growing theory was wrong. At that point, it was more a sneaking suspicion than a theory, anyway. "When, exactly, did you notice it had gone missing?"

"My cousin Hepzibah, the hoarder she was, lost it in the mess of her house. We tried to find it after that house elf killed her, but she didn't take good enough care of our things." Her voice took on an annoyed edge when she added, "She had no kids; the cup would have gone to me, you know?"

"Her house elf... killed her?" Lia asked, perplexed.

The Gryffindors had a multitude of house elves, before they were all killed in the siege that killed the rest of Aeliana's family, so she knew that it was definitely not commonplace to happen upon a homocidal house elf. Had she been forced to cook and clean for ungrateful wizards her whole life, Lia knew for certain she would turn to a life of murder in no time flat, but house elves had patience she could only dream of.

"Well, I'm not one to gossip," Mrs. Smith began in a way that implicated her as a professional heavy weight gossiping champion, "but apparently the old elf poisoned her tea. Too daft to realize she was putting some toxin into her mistress's drink instead of sugar."

Again, this struck Lia as odd. Who just happened to keep deadly poison lying around in their kitchen next to their food? How would a mistake like that even happen, disregarding the possibility that Hepzibah made a habit of testing her house guest's poison tolerance?

"So the elf poisoned your cousin and then all of a sudden the cup was gone," Lia repeated for clarification, to which Mrs. Smith nodded with the air of someone in great despair.

"What about people? Did you know of any others who came around in the weeks leading up to her death?" Maybe they could have taken it. The elf had no use for a gold, and it sure as hell didn't grow legs and run off to join a kitchen set somewhere.

"Err... People who came around? Well, I don't see why that matters..."

_You wouldn't_, Lia thought dryly.

"I wasn't very close with Hepzibah, you see, but I do distinctly remember her bragging about this handsome boy who was head over heels for her, or so you'd think from the way she talked of him. She loved to brag." Her expression turned to one of extreme distaste, as though something foul were put under her nose. "My cousin was not a pretty woman, you see. She competed with whales in terms of size. No boy in his right mind would fall for her."

"His name," Lia urged. "Do you remember his name?"

"Oh, what was it? This was quite a long time ago, dear," she defended, not seeming to care either way who the mystery boy was. "Maybe Todd? Timmothy? Thomas! Yes!" She seemed overjoyed for a half-second before going back to doubting herself, frowning. "Wait no, that wasn't it... Tom! I'm sure that was it, this time! Tom Riddle!"

"Are you positive?"

"Of course, I'm positive," she said with the air of someone deeply offended, despite having spent a solid minute generating half a dozen other names with just as much confidence. "My memory is very sharp, it comes in handy when recalling old... err... news."

Gossip, more likely.

Lia stood up abruptly, seemingly startling poor Mrs. Smith. "Thank you, you've been very helpful, but I must be going. I've borrowed something from a friend and would like to return it before he notices we both are gone."

Lia felt Sirius's wand burning a whole in her robes and would not cherish the conversation that would ensue if he realised she'd stolen it in order to perform under age magic.

"Oh, you're leaving so soon? I really wished to ask you more about what happened to your family..."

"I'm really sorry, ma'am. It's getting late, and we should be retiring soon anyways," Lia said, opening the plain white door to the torrid downpour outside.

"Oh well... Do come by soon so we can have that chat!"

Aeliana didn't dignify that with an answer. She wouldn't be having that chat with anyone, ever, if she could help it, let alone with loose lips over there.

She pulled her hood once more over her head to obscure her face and shield her from the elements. Bracing herself for extreme nausea, Lia gripped Sirius's wand tight and Apparated back to the edge just outside of Gryffindor Manor, where she could easily walk into the protection of Dumbledore's spells.

The force of the Apparation disoriented her for a moment, making her momentarily sluggish and whisking the hood back off her head. It took a minute to recover, before she noticed that something was definitely not right. In fact, something was most certainly wrong.

With a start, she realised she wasn't alone.

Not a second too late, she dropped to the ground, feeling the burning energy of a spell crackling where her head had been only moment before. She rolled swiftly to the side and back onto her feet, hardly caring that she was now dripping equal parts mud and rain.

Lia looked around for who had fired, wand at the ready. Despite the heavy rainfall, she discerned the outlines of two covered figures, growing closer by the second.

"_Shit_," Aeliana cursed, ducking again as another spell soared in her direction. She cursed again more graphically, lamenting the fact that she had brought Sirius's wand and damning the underage magic law to hell once more. She could use his wand for basic spells, sure, but it lacked the power and familiarity of her own wand, something she'd need if she were to overpower two opponents. "Shit, shit, shit, _shit_!"

She fired of a mumbled stunning charm under breath, in hopes it might grant her the element of surprise.

It nearly hit the man who had fired the first jinx, but Lia realised too late her aim had been slightly off from running. He prepared another wave of spells, while his partner fell back, for some reason Lia was certain she wasn't going to like.

A moment later, her question was answered as she heard multiple cracking sounds erupting from every direction, surrounding her. Evidently, he called for back up.

_Aqua Eructo_, she thought desperately.

A whip of water sprouted from the end of Sirius's wand, and although it should have been weaker due to her lack of ownership, the downpour around them strengthened the spell, making the whip both stronger and more lengthy. She slashed it wildly in every direction, particularly towards her rear, in hopes of creating a viable escape path back to the manor.

She felt the rope collide painfully with several of the figures, buying her enough time to sprint as she never had before towards the wrought iron gates encasing her home.

"Capture her!" a voice screamed. Several men yelled back their assent.

The part of Aeliana's brain that had no sense of appropriateness in lethal situations couldn't help but blame Hogwarts slightly for her current predicament. Magic made wizards lazier than even the most accomplished Seer could have foreseen as an issue. Quidditch was hardly an exhaustive sport; they rode on brooms for goodness sake. No running involved.

Curses flew in every direction, lights reflecting off the falling rain drops, making the night seem a lot brighter thann it should have been. Flashes of red and green flew across Lia's vision faster than lightning.

_The gate's too far, and there are too many of them. I'll never make it. Maybe with my own wand, in day light where I could see all of them, but not now._

It occurred to Aeliana that that night the Gryffindor line might die out for good. Her family's legacy would end because she was too overconfident and weak.

She knew it was all over when she felt the first spell collide with her chest, like a hot knife running her through. Lia stumbled forward, her spell disintegrating into a puddle upon the ground, indistinguishable from the rest of the rain soaked earth.

In one final act of desperation, she used the low visibility to her benefit by casting a spell that created a thick black fog encompassing the area, but it was too late. She was already beginning to lose feeling in her fingers. She was unsure what spell she'd been hit with, but it's numbing effects quickly took hold.

"_Bombarda maxima_!" she shouted hoarsely, a last ditch effort to fight off the inevitable.

A huge explosion shook the land, and Lia felt the force of it propelling her towards the gates as screams filled the air in front of her.

Lia grit her teeth and tried to push herself off the ground to crawl those last few feet to safety, however, each attempt was met with failure. Her arms shook too violently, her legs trembled fiercely to regain control. One by one, her arms, and then legs, collapsed beneath her, falling limp, leaving her as defenceless as the day she was born.

"No..." Lia choked out. Things couldn't end this way. Not before she avenged her family. Tears pooled behind her eyes for the first time since she found out about their massacre. She had never been so hopeless. She couldn't avenge them, and there would be no one left to avenge her.

Lia felt a rough hand grip her shoulder, yanking her back. Knowing there was nothing she could do any more, she squeezed her eyes tight. She couldn't make a move to protect herself. She was going to die and she refused to watch it happen.

"I've got you now, blood traitor," the man spat.

Then, nothing happened.

In fact, the hand released its tight hold, being pulled back by some invisible force.

No, not invisible, Lia realised, just black, blending in with her manufactured fog.

A fierce growl rumbled across the grounds, followed closely by a bloodcurdling scream.

Moments later, Aeliana felt strong arms wrapped themselves around her. Again. She wanted to fight them, but was as in control of her own limbs as doll. The last thing Lia noticed before succumbing to unconsciousness was the uneven swaying of a man running, and the sound of an erratic, thundering heartbeat where her head was pressed into the person's chest.


	6. VI:Heart

• — • — •

_Heart! We will forget him!_

_You and I—tonight!_

_You may forget the warmth he gave—_

_I will forget the light!_

-EMILY DICKINSON

• — • — •

"Why isn't she waking up?"

"Padfoot, you need to calm down."

"Why didn't you just go to Professor Dumbledore in the first place?"Another, more reserved, voice added. "He would know what to do better than us. He needs to be made aware."

"I can't go to him; if I tell someone, she'll get in trouble for using underage magic, not to mention _stealing_ my wand."

"Dumbledore is reasonable, I'm sure that he'd understand-"

"Bloody hell, Moony, just because he made an exception for your furry little problem doesn't mean that he'll feel the same way for breaking wizarding law!"

"Both of you need to relax."

Aeliana's heart rate accelerated involuntarily at the sound of raised voices, rousing her to a conscious state. Her breathing must have sped up as well, because as the other person was about to retort, the angry voice snapped, "Shut up! I think she's awake."

She heard shuffling and then a warm hand placed itself on her forearm.

"Lia?" the angry one whispered, softer now. "You're safe. Come on, open your eyes."

The spell that had been placed on her was starting to fade, and she found she was again able to move her fingers. Her eyes, however, still proved too difficult.

"Everything is okay now," the reserved voice intoned. "But we need to know what happened."

In a monumental effort, Lia managed to pry open her eyelids to be greeted by three concerned, yet familiar, faces. Their tense expressions eased slightly upon seeing no irreparable damage had been done.

"That-" Lia's voice didn't seem to want to work, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "That's the longest I've slept in weeks."

Her weak attempt at levity earned a small, disbelieving smile from Remus and an incredulous laugh from James, but it did not crack Sirius's hard exterior by any means. His visage remained hard as stone. Now that he knew she was fine, his concerned expression morphed again into a furious one.

"You two, out," he demanded of James and Remus, still not looking away from Aeliana, unblinking.

James began to protest, but Remus placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, as if to say, "Drop it."

Lia sent Remus a desperate, pleading look, silently begging him to stay, which he heartlessly ignored, giving her leg a reassuring pat before heading out after James.

"I'm glad you're better, Lia. If you ever need anything..." he trailed off uncertainly, shutting the door behind him.

The click of the door reverberated throughout the room, making Lia hyper-aware of just how close Sirius actually was. She made an effort to look anywhere except his eyes. She could have fried an egg with the waves of fury radiating off of him.

Lia broke the silence first, muttering, "I think I'd take a few more Death Eaters over this."

Sirius leaned back, stoic as ever, folding his arms over his chest. Unamused did not even begin to describe the look he was giving her.

"Why." Not a question. An order.

All of a sudden, it all came back to her. Everything that had happened. The Horcruxes, the Hufflepuff Cup, Tom Riddle, being jumped by Death Eaters prowling just outside my house.

"How... How am I even alive? They had me, I know they did."

"You tell me what I want to know and I'll tell you that."

She paused, considering. "What do you want to know?"

"Where did you go?"

"An old friends house."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You seemed tired and it was a personal visit."

"You stole my wand."

"Not a question."

He slammed a fist against a wall, doing more damage to himself than the brick. "Stop doing this, Aeliana. And don't say you don't know what you're doing, because you do. You're pushing me out by not answering my questions."

"I told you, this has nothing-"

He cut her off. "-to do with me?" He pushed his long raven locks out of his face in exasperation. "And I told you, you have everything to do with me! You brought me into this the second you stole my wand! Not to mention when I had go rescue you in the dead of night!"

Sirius paced back and forth across the room, wearing holes into the thick plush carpet. She watched him silently from the library couch where she awoke, slightly unnerved by his uncharacteristic seriousness.

"I woke up to the sound of an explosion and when I got outside, there you were, lying on the ground bleeding, with some creep leaning over you. You weren't moving! I thought you were dead!"

She was bleeding? It must have happened when she caused that explosion. Gingerly, Lia reached up to feel a long cut stretching across her left cheek.

For a moment, Sirius looked haunted, as he said, "I think I might have killed a man... But he was going to hurt you and I was so desperate... it was like I lost control. I kept on biting him until he stopped trying to get up. Then I changed back into a human because I had to get you to safety. I carried you all the way back; I'm still not sure how I managed to do it."

He slumped back into an overstuffed chair, holding his face in his hands.

"I thought you were dead," he whispered, again.

"They weren't going to kill me," she assured him. "They had much worse planned, I'm sure."

Aeliana wasn't sure what possessed her to say it, but she knew it was true. The Death Eater shouted for them to "capture" her, and the other Death Eater said he'd "got" her. Not to mention the fact that if they really wanted her dead they could have used the killing curse instead of one that merely caused temporary paralysis. They definitely weren't above killing people- Death Eaters weren't know for their strong moral backbone- so they must have wanted her alive for some reason.

"How can you say they didn't want to kill you? What aren't you telling me?"

She briefly considered telling him everything. It would be so freeing to drag someone else into this hell, make them share in her burden, but she knew she couldn't do that to Sirius. He deserved better than... than this. Lia didn't want him to embark on what could be a wild goose chase that would probably get them both killed. It was her family that needed avenging, not his. She couldn't let anyone else get hurt, or, heaven forbid, killed. Not on her account.

She sat up, formed the most placating smile she had in her arsenal, and told him, "It's really not that important, Sirius. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I was confused, maybe. I just woke up, after all."

"You're lying to me," he noted, obviously pissed off. He nodded towards my hand. "You fidget with that ring on your middle finger whenever you lie."

His words drew her attention to her hand, where she was indeed twisting her gold, ruby encrusted ring around her finger. She promptly stopped, making a mental note to get over that habit.

Aeliana shrugged noncommittally. "Think what you want."

"Why? Why can't you just tell me the truth?" he pleaded. "Let me help you, Lia. We've always helped each other, with everything. We've never kept secrets from each other, so why start now. I want to help you."

She sighed. "Even if I was up to something— which I'm not— I wouldn't need your help, Sirius. I'm a big kid now. I can even tie my own shoes," she said sarcastically, rising unsteadily to her feet and patting him on the head condescendingly to drive the point home.

"Says the only one of us who is too young to use magic," Sirius retorted.

She rolled her eyes, secretly grateful they were moving past this tense subject. Or so she thought.

"Whatever, in less than two months you'll be at Hogwarts and I'll be able to keep an eye on you whether you like it or not," he said confidently, grinning the smile of a man assured of his own victory, because they both knew of that infernal map they had made. Unfortunately, She couldn't be too upset, as she was an accessory to that particular crime.

"Nice try, but this Gryffindor isn't going back to Hogwarts this year."

Sirius narrowed his eyes, glancing to see if she was fidgeting with her ring. "You're joking."

She shrugged. He could think what he wanted. Not her problem.

"You can't just _not_ go back!"

"Isn't that what kids do when they don't have parents breathing down their necks? Start ditching, get in with a bad crowd, drop out?" she joked humourlessly, moving past him towards the stack of books she'd left out last night. She'd wasted enough time being unconscious and needed to return to looking for answers.

"Your parents wouldn't want this."

"Well, they aren't here, are they?" Lia snapped.

"You have to go back, to finish your education," he reasoned hopelessly.

Since when did he care about education? He was the one out of the two of them who spent more time in detention than actually in class.

"No one can force me. I'm going to be seventeen by then. Legally an adult, fully capable of making my own decisions," she retorted. "I have nothing to gain from continuing my magical education in a traditional school setting when I can just learn everything I need here, without having to waste time on useless distractions, like History of Magic, Astrology, or you."

"Is that what your friends are to you? 'Useless distractions?'" he echoed, his usual loud, barking voice strangely low. "We only want to help you. That's what friends do."

"You are not my keeper, Sirius, and I don't know why you even bother pretending to be," she fumed, reaching for a book of genealogy from the book shelf above her head to look for this "Riddle" person Mrs. Smith had mentioned the night before.

"You don't know why?" Sirius asked, his voice taking a dangerous edge. He stalked up behind her as she pulled the book down, spinning her around and pinning her against the mahogany shelves. "You want to know why?"

Aeliana could feel his breath fanning across her cheek, face inches from her own, their bodies pressed firmly together. With her heart beat thundering in her ears, her eyes dropped involuntarily to his lips.

_What am I thinking? You don't like him like that_, Aeliana! she scolded herself. _This is Sirius we're talking about. Mr. Sirius Woman-fall-weak-at-my-feet, don't-get-attached, never-ending-pain-in-the-ass Black. He's only a FRIEND. He doesn't really like you. He just wants what he knows he can't have. I have to avenge my brother and my parents, I don't have time for this! He's a distraction from what's important_!

Despite all of her internal protesting, none of that stopped her from kissing him back when he crushed his lips to hers. A low growl sounded from the back of his throat as his lips devoured her own. His tongue trailed across her lips, as his hands roamed everywhere, taking in everything. Her head grew dizzy and she needed to come up for air, but, at the same time, she didn't want to. Breathing was overrated.

_What the hell am I doing_? the same voice from earlier screeched.

Lia snapped back to reality, a reality where she couldn't just follow pesky hormones, and pushed Sirius away.

They stared at each other momentarily, chests heaving, from a few feet apart. She never really noticed his strong bone structure before, or the depth of his dark eyes.

She shook my head to break free of the brief trance. Averting his gaze, she murmured, "You should go."

He looked for a moment as though he might say something, but then he merely closed his mouth, nodding gruffly. Lia turned away, so as not to see whether he glanced back as he left, feeling more alone and confused than ever.


	7. VII:Diplomacy

• — • — •

_A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age._

_-MARK TWAIN_

• — • — •

Aeliana jolted awake, startled, from a timid knock on the library door. In all honesty, she hadn't even realised she fell asleep, but based on the time, hadn't slept very long. Her mind ran a mile a minute these days, so whenever she shut her eyes, her imagination ran wild, picturing her brother's last moments, fighting alone against Voldemort and a dozen Death Eaters, or her father's, watching his family die knowing he could do nothing to save them.

Other times, she dreamed of Death Eaters no doubt waiting for her to let her guard down and leave the safety of her house. She dreamt of what they would do to her, as well as the attack they had already attempted to carry out.

In the good dreams, she saw herself killing every last one of them, her subconscious bringing to life her darkest wish. She wasn't proud of the satisfaction her dream-self gained from murdering her family's butchers, but the twisted joy she found was still there, regardless of whether she liked it or not.

_A Gryffindor shouldn't have these dark thoughts_, she often scolded herself. They were supposed to be above it all, good, noble, and brave. A decent person's deepest desire wouldn't be a massacre. Was she not a good person anymore? Did she even care if she wasn't?

She leapt to her feet at the sound of another round of hesitant knocks, grabbing the empty bottles littering the floor nearby and tossing them swiftly into already crammed drawers. She looked around for any strays before sinking back into her seat.

Assuming any Death Eater who finally managed to break into her house wouldn't have the courtesy to knock, Lia cleared her throat before responding, "Come in."

As apprehensive as a man being sent to feed a hungry dragon, Remus poked his head inside the room with a tentative smile in place.

"Wow, you look... err..."

"Like shit?" Lia suggested, lips curving up slightly at the corners from his meagre attempt at being polite. The motion felt foreign. She couldn't remember the last time she'd smiled.

Remus laughed lightly, shaking his head as he pushed his way into the room, dropping a few bags on the table next to her books.

"I come bearing gifts."

"What's the occasion?" she asked, quizzically, glancing curiously at the brightly coloured sacks.

At that, Remus paused from unloading the multi coloured contents of his bags, staring at her from under furrowed brows.

"Lia..." he started, slowly. "Did you forget it's your birthday?"

"No way, it's only..." she looked around for the date, frowning. Actually, she hadn't the faintest idea what day it was. "Is it really already the 27th?"

Remus nodded. "Pretty sure."

"Of August?"

"Are you really asking me the month?"

"Wow..." she trailed off, thoughtfully.

"James wanted to come with, but... well... Sirius," he tried to explain, looking awkward. "He felt like it would be a betrayal, because of whatever is going on between you two."

Lia waved a hand through the air with calculated carelessness, indicating to Remus that she understood. Sirius hadn't spoken to her since he left that fateful day. Lia honestly didn't know what to say around him anymore, it was like an invisible wall stretching between them came crashing down and she wasn't sure of what she wanted to find on the other side.

If things didn't go well, Lia didn't want to destroy their friendship, yet a nagging thought wondered if it was already ruined. They hadn't spoken in over a month, with the last words said on both sides being yelled in anger. Sure, they shared a kiss immediately after, but she couldn't be sure where that left them.

The darker part of her mind quietly noted that it was probably a good thing, this stone cold silence. Sirius was poking his long, black snout in places it didn't belong. It could only end disastrously.

Breaking the growing silence, Aeliana said, "You really didn't have to bring me anything."

"I didn't, but you've been isolated so long, I figured you needed provisions," he said, tipping one of the packages over, sending a coma-inducing amount of candy sprawling across the book she'd previously been using as a pillow.

She stared at it all for a moment in silence, and then, out of nowhere, began laughing. It honestly wasn't that funny, but she just couldn't stop, perhaps because her mental state was stretched to its limit. Remus stared, concerned that she'd finally lost her mind. When the hysterical outburst trailed to an end, she was left numbly gazing at the ceiling with her head tilted up against the armchair.

Sabertooth the cat, nesting upon a small stack to paper— solely for the sake of being in the way— batted various sweet confections onto the ground with her ginger paw, irritated at their intrusion.

Sensing her fickle mood, Remus unwrapped a block of chocolate and gingerly offered it. "Eat this. You'll feel better."

Without needing further encouragement, Lia took such a hideously large bite of the bar that it would have no doubt given her ladylike mother a stroke. Maybe it would cure this infernal head ache.

"You know, you have a very narrow idea of what people need to survive if this is what you call provisions," she told him through a mouth full of cocoa.

He shot her a wry smile. "I like to think of it as investing in my mental health."

Lia snorted.

Glancing sidelong at him, she took in his appearance. Despite not seeing him for several weeks, he hadn't changed at all, which felt weird, because the last time they spoke she had been an entirely different person. It was strange how her entire universe could tilt on its axis, while his just stayed exactly the same.

Somehow, he looked just as he always did. His long caramel hair was still carefully pushed back out of his face, his emerald eyes still cunning and alert, and he still wore that old cloak wherever he went. One thing, however, marred his well-off look. His skin had taken on a sickly-pale hue that could only mean one thing.

"I know you said I looked like shit, but you aren't looking too hot yourself, either."

"You said you looked like shit all on your own, not me," he defended.

Grabbing the bar of chocolate from his hands and shoving it playfully under his nose, Lia deepened her voice, mimicking his words from earlier. "Eat this, you'll feel better."

"Don't need to tell me twice," he replied, taking a bite that rivalled the size of her own.

"It's almost time, isn't it?" she asked, referring to the full moon. She hadn't been outside in who knew how long, but could tell just by looking at him that it must be close. "Do you want company for when it happens? I know you said it makes it easier when others are near."

"No offence, but I'm pretty sure my inner werewolf would find you taste delicious, Lia," he said, eyes crinkling in amusement as he snatched the chocolate from her hands and swallowed the rest whole, as though to demonstrate exactly how he'd gobble her down.

"There are worst ways to go." Lia thought about it, reconsidering. "Though I can't really think of any off the top of my head. At least I'd be with my family again, I guess."

Remix's eyes grew soft. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Everyone is so damn sorry! You're not the one who murdered them, are you?" she vented. Remus looked slightly alarmed at the uncalled outburst, so she relented. "Sorry. I'm just taking my anger out on you and you don't deserve that." Quieter, she added, "I've been doing that with everyone. I wonder if you're the only friend I really have left."

"Come now," he chastised, pushing a blonde lock of hair back behind her ear. He knew exactly who was on her mind without my needing to explicitly state it. "Sirius is a hot-head. We both know that, but he still cares about you. Though, I won't deny that he doesn't want to be just your friend..."

The way he trailed suggestively left a billion implications hanging in the air. She gasped, hurling to her feet and smacked his shoulder.

"You knew? You knew!" she screeched, smacking his arm a few more times for good measure. "Forget what I said about us being friends! Obviously we aren't, because a real friend would have told me Sirius liked me!"

"Ow!" Remus laughed, putting up his hands to shield himself. "It was so obvious, I thought you knew." Smiling slyly, he added, "Everyone else did."

"I thought he was joking," she said, swiping one last hand at his head, which he dodged. "How could I take him seriously when he was calling me those ridiculous nicknames? He flirts with anything that moves!"

"Are you sure you deserved that prefect badge? Cause you seem pretty dense," Remus scoffed. "He wanted to make you jealous, not that it worked, apparently. Poor guy. Do you not remember him nailing me straight in the nose that one time he thought I was flirting with you?"

"I can't _believe_ you."

"I told him the only way you'd realise it was if he gave up on being subtle, if you could call what he was doing subtle, and shot fireworks into the air professing his love while at the same time hiring a choir to tie you down and sing you into your ear that he was interested, but, for whatever reason, he never took my suggestion to heart."

This asshole had the nerve to shrug.

"Pretty sure I could rip apart your werewolf self with my bare hands right now," Lia threatened.

With the air of someone severely enjoying himself, he asked, "So... how did you finally find out? You rejected him, didn't you? I bet that's why he's been acting so moody," he theorised. "Ouch, that must have hurt. I don't think anyone has ever told Padfoot 'no' before."

Lia pushed him again, nearly sending him onto the floor before he recovered himself, allowing her to fall back onto the chair right behind him.

"It wasn't like that." She pondered the matter a little more. Sighing, she continued, "Well, maybe it was, but it would never have worked out. I don't want him to get hurt, so all we really do is fight, because he doesn't want to be left out."

"What he understands, and you have yet to understand, I might add, is that sometimes a fight is necessary when you care about someone. If you didn't care, you both would just leave it be. He fights with you because he wants to fight for you, Lia, or else he wouldn't bother."

**_A/N_**

**_I have two midterms on Tuesday, so I'm not sure when the next update will be but I'll try to update ASAP. Wish me luck or pray I get hit by a bus Monday night so I don't have to take them!!_**


	8. VIII:Parting

_Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell._

—EMILY DICKENSON

• — • — •

"Hey, Remus? Do you know a Tom Riddle?"

"Tom Riddle?" He pondered the matter for a few seconds, tapping his pointer finger contemplatively on the table. "Can't say I do. Why? Who is he?"

"That's just it! I don't know!" Aeliana slammed a book on the table, startling Remus, who had been resting his head on only inches away. "And believe me when I say, I've looked everywhere, but it's like the bloke just vanished into thin air. That's not normal, right? I was able to track him all through Hogwarts; Head Boy, awarded for special services, a Slytherin," she made a face at that detail, "it looked like he was going places, but then he just dropped off the map a little after his Seventh Year. Even before Hogwarts, I managed to trace him to some muggle orphanage, but can't tell who his parents were. I assume he's half-blood, since that whole Slytherin anti-muggleborn thing. There are no wizarding Riddle families, however, so his father must be a muggle."

"Could he have died?"

Lia shook her head. "Way ahead of you there. No death certificate."

Remus lifted his head out of his arms, which he'd been using as a pillow, to grab some more of the "provisions" he brought with him.

Popping a chocolate frog into his mouth, he asked, "And why, may I ask, are you stalking this poor man?"

"It could be nothing, I mean, it's probably nothing, but I feel like something is definitely off here, and I think that if I could find out more about this guy, things would make sense. Something about him is just like an itch I can't scratch. I want to ignore it, but I can't."

"Talk about answering a question without actually answering the question."

Annoyed, she fired a well aimed Berty Bott's Every Flavor Bean at his unsuspecting head. He yelped, knocking over a heap of mail that had been piling up. As he bent down to pick them back up, he said, "Hey, this one's from Hogwarts. How come you haven't opened it yet? Class starts in less than a week and you still need to get your books."

Not waiting for a response, he tore open the letter, only for a circular badge to fall out. He picked it up, examining it.

"Will surprises never cease? You, Head Girl?" he asked, forcing feigned shock into his voice. He pinned the badge to her robes, despite feeble attempts to swat him away. "Just kidding, although if you had told me James was going to be Head Boy three years ago, I would've said you'd been on the receiving end of a particularly vicious comfundus charm."

"It doesn't really matter who's Head Girl. It's just extra work."

He let out a fake gasp and leaned over, placing his hand over her forehead, as though taking her temperature. "Are you ill? For years you've spoken of nothing else _but_ becoming Head Girl. Sirius, for one, found it extremely bothersome."

Smacking him away again, Lia shot him a flat look. "Priorities change. And you're beginning to act a little too friendly, if you ask me, just like Sirius before he started being so pissy."

"Friends are supposed to be friendly, Lia. By definition, really." He hesitated, his teasing smile faltering. "Does that mean what he said was true? You're really dropping out of Hogwarts?"

Lia sighed. She really didn't fancy having this argument again. "I meant what I told Sirius, nothing's changed."

"Woah, don't give me that look. I'm just surprised. I figured you'd want to go back one last year for the extra protection, 'cause no one's about to break in there, and if anyone needs to watch their back, it's you. Though these days it sometimes seems as though Hogwarts is just a glorified Death Eater Recruiting Center, at least in the Slytherin common room..."

Lia snorted at that. It was a sad truth that the majority of people who joined Voldemort's ranks were brought in while they were still young and impressionable students.

All of a sudden, it hit her. An idea. A plan. It was a foolish plan, with more ways it could go wrong than right, yet the mere concept of a plan filled her with a rush of anticipation. It wasn't exactly a happy feeling, but it was still more than she'd felt in the last three months. Within it bloomed a twisted hope.

Leaping to her feet with newfound enthusiasm, Lia exclaimed, "You're a genius! I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before... If no one can kill this guy in a fair fight, not even Father or Caius, than maybe _that_ could work..."

Remus, on the other hand, rose to his feet warily. In the even tones a Auror might use to try and placate a deranged serial killer, he asked, "Pray tell, why am a genius? I feel like I've unwittingly set in motion a chain of events that will cause Sirius rip out my throat later, and I'd like to know what I've done before he does."

"The Death Eaters! Hogwarts! Don't you see?"

"No, I don't, so if you'd kindly explain..."

"I'm going to become a Death Eater!" she said, delight evident in her tone that was generally uncharacteristic of such announcements.

Remus stared at her as though she had just confessed a lifelong ambition to grow trees from both ears.

"Now, Lia, let's talk about this- you seriously can't be considering- I mean, they killed- _are you insane_?" he stuttered.

She had never seen him lose his composure before, and it was that that brought to her attention the gravity of what she'd just said. In her enthusiasm for having finally come up with a coarse of action, she'd accidentally spilled the core of it all without a second thought. Sure, becoming a Death Eater sounded crazy, and if she was completely honest with herself, it was a little crazy, but it was the best way she could think of to get revenge. The best wizards of the age had gone toe to toe with Voldemort on even ground and left the encounters in body bags. Obviously, a frontal attack was not the way to go, because wasn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? Lia acknowledged she may be crazy, but she was decidedly not insane.

In war, people go undercover to spy for the enemy all the time, so why couldn't she? Realistically, she would be considered one of the last people who would join the ranks of Lord Voldemort, but if she went to Hogwarts, cozied up to the right Slytherins, changed her attitude to fit the proper evil-asshole criterion, then maybe she could pull it off. It was the only idea that had a shot right now, or at least that hadn't been tried yet.

The previous encounter with the Death Eaters waiting outside her house still weighed heavily on her mind. From what Lia could tell, they didn't want to kill her, so she could use that to her advantage, if she could just figure out what they _did_ want.

But first, she had to clean up this mess she'd made.

"Come on, Aeliana, you should rest. I can tell you haven't really slept in awhile, and I'm sure if you did you'd remember that _Death Eater's are the bad guys! _That's not you. I know no one can talk you out of something you've put your mind to, but just sleep on this. Please," Remus pleaded, his hands gripping her shoulders as though trying to shake some sense into her.

Backing out of his grip and retreating a few paces, Lia forced a disarming smile to her face, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. "You're probably right. I haven't gotten a good nights sleep since I was still in my mother's womb. You don't look so good either, though. You should get in one more full nights sleep before the moon, too."

Still grinning, she let her hands fall nonchalantly into the pockets of her robes, feeling the presence of some of the various notes she'd taken, as well as quills, galleons, and her wand.

Across the room, Remus stiffened slightly. He turned towards the door, hands also in his robes.

"Yes, the best thing for both of us would be to sleep, so neither one of us try to do anything crazy," he conceded in a wary tone.

_Now_! It had to be now.

Lia tore her wand out of her pocket, aiming directly for his retreating form before she lost her nerve. She cried, "_Obliviate_!"

Faster than she would have thought possible, he swung back around, wand at the ready, shouting "_Protego_!"

Her spell was a second too late-_ story of her life_\- and ricochet away from the shield he had created just in time to preserve his memory. Wands still raised, they stared at each other for a silent moment. Neither moved beyond the heaving of their chests from adrenaline. One moment stretched into several more, until Lia broke the silence with the question that had been eating at her. She let the false cheer fall from her face.

"How did you know?"

Knowing she was referring to how he knew she was planning to erase his memories, he responded, "I didn't."

She gave him an incredulous look. There was no way he could have deflected that if he didn't know what she was going to do. Between the two of them, she was the better dueller, and there was no way he just happened to have his wand in hand.

"Your smile. It felt off," he relented. "It was just like before, like how you used to smile, but you haven't smiled that way since before they- your family- were killed. It didn't feel right. I took a precaution I hoped would prove unnecessary, and I'm glad I did."

"All because I smiled." Not a question, but he nodded anyways. Lia catalogued that information for later deceptions. Smiling = bad. "So where does this leave us? I can't let you leave with the knowledge of what I said just so that you can get in my way later, or go off telling the others."

"I won't try and get in your way, if this is what you _truly_ want to do. I've learned from Sirius's failing example to not stop you when you set your mind to something. We're friends, so if you ask me to not tell anyone, I won't tell a soul. As to getting myself into danger, I can assure you, I'm not as hotheaded as Sirius. I won't do anything stupid. Just, please, don't do this alone. Let me help."

Lia didn't say anything, so he continued. "There was a time when you would never have raised your wand on a friend, or have stolen a wand, or, for goodness sake, decided to _join the Death Eaters_!, but you're still you. Let me be your ally."

Lia met his unfaltering gaze, his green eyes resolute and determined. She couldn't help thinking of her brother, though the two had nothing in common beside the unshakable kindness that showed true on their faces.

_Why, Caius? Why couldn't you have been here instead of me? I have no idea what I'm doing. You would have avenged me far better than I can avenge you. I'm not good enough alone, and I'm not kind enough to refuse him when I know he'd follow me into my grave, despite what he says. _

Knowing she was weak for giving in just because emotions were impairing her judgement, Lia's will crumbled, Looking Remus straight in the eyes once more, she took a step forward.

"Would you be willing to promise, then? I can't take a chance, Remus. I don't want to Obliviate you, but I will in a heartbeat if I must, if it keeps you safe."

"What kind of promise?" he inquired wearily.

"An Unbreakable Vow."

He swallowed. "Is this the only way?"

Lia nodded, awaitimg his answer.

She could see him visibly steeling himself, but when his eyes looked into hers they didn't waver. Extending his arm, he instructed, "Pull out your wand."

Slightly shocked that he'd agreed, Lia did as beckoned. He gripped the inside of her forearm firmly and she did the same with his, raising her wand to perform the spell that would tie them till death did they part.

She cleared her throat. "Do you vow to never tell another soul of my plans involving Voldemort?"

"I do."

"Do you also vow to never attempt to get in the way of said plans, even if you don't agree with them?"

"I do," he swore with conviction, adding in before Lia could stop him, "and I also vow to aid you with your quest until either we or Voldemort are dead."

Light exploded around them, blinding her in its brilliance. A whirlwind of energy rose like fire, blinding, flashing, and licking at their cloaks. Searing pain raced from her wrist to shoulder, as though she was being burned along mesmerising lines. She could barely breathe for the pain. Sensing her discomfort, Remus gripped her forearm tighter, letting the spell wash over them. This small gesture gave Lia the will to see the spell to its end.

And to their end.


	9. IX:Wars

• — • — •

_All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers._

_\- FRANCOIS FENELON_

• — • — •

Stepping onto the platform, Aeliana felt a hundred eyes suffocating her beneath their starving gazes.

_Breathe._

_Head up. Face forward_.

They followed her every move. Although whispers chased her back as she wound her way through Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, she pretended not to notice. It wasn't like she could confront them all at once, so there was nothing to do but grit her teeth and bare with it.

Part of her wished she chose to maintain an invisibility charm all the way onto the train. She used it as a precaution when moving beyond the gates of her property to Apparate to the station. Sabertooth's mewled and moaned like a beached whale after the Apparation, unfortunately making their invisibility more suspect than helpful.

In her heart, Lia knew she shouldn't have been surprised at the attention she received, but it still weighed heavy on her chest. Whenever a Gryffindor child went to Hogwarts, there had always been some fanfare, just not to this degree. By vanishing from the public eye for months she'd only fanned the flames of curiosity, making the murders more mysterious. After all, how could the strongest family of wizards be annihilated in a single night?

Drowning out the distant mutterings and glares, Lia pressed forward to board the train. With every step she took, the crowd either consciously or subconsciously parted around her, leaving an almost eerie hush. Lia could taste their fear, their uncertainty. A dash of pity.

And, for some, their glee. The fall from the top was long and provided good theatre to the uninvolved.

As she hefted her suitcase out of the trolley to push it onto the train, she felt it lifted easily out of her hands. A spike of irrational annoyance shot through her gut and she deliberately kept her eyes low, because she knew without looking up who would be the perpetrator.

"I can lift it by myself," she muttered, directing her words at a scowling Sabertooth.

"True," Sirius mused, "but why break tradition when I always do it for you."

"I've asked you to stop every year since we were twelve," she deadpanned, attempting to snatch the luggage back. "Traditions are meant to be broken, or else you'd be in Slytherin green like your brother right about now."

Sirius held the suitcase out of her grasp, reminiscent of one child taunting another shorter one by holding a toy suspended above their heads.

She planted her hands on her hips, adopting the best approximation of McGonagall's showstopping glare. "Don't cause a scene unless you'd like to lose one of your appendages. Since I'm feeling generous, I'll allow you to choose which."

He made a show of pretending to only just notice our legion of eavesdroppiers, leaning in close to dramatically stage whisper, "How's Voldemort doing these days? Rumour has it that you're actually quite close. He's acting like a spurned ex the way he's having his friends ministering your every move. Is there something I should know? Should I be expecting a wedding announcement soon? At least he won't have to worry about your family getting between you."

Several people in the assembled crowd gasped, and Lia thought one of the second years might pass out. After picking their jaws up off the ground, thus began a dozen hushed iterations of "_Oh snap, I can't believe he just went there_," and "_Voldemort is going to roast him on a spit for that one_."

Lia slowly closed her eyes, loosing an exasperated sigh. Voldemort would have to get in line. _._

_They won't even be able to recover his body with magic by the time I'm done with him, _ she thought savagely. _Perhaps I'll feed him to a herd of wild hypogriffs, or give him to the giant squid as a toothbrush. I bet the Slytherin monster would find him tasty. If only I could find it... Or better yet, I wonder if Remus would be willing to end his miserable life on the next full moon._

Her waning self-control finally failed to her temper.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed, finally managing to snatch back her things and storm aboard the train.

"I wanted to give them a show. That's obviously what they were all waiting for. You should be more considerate of the needs of the public," he scolded mockingly, following aboard.

"I really have nothing to say to you. Go find your boyfriend and leave me alone."

She walked down the aisle, searching for an empty compartment, Sirius hot on her heels.

"Unfortunately, my 'boyfriend' is cheating on me with Lily, so I've decided to pursue other, more fruitful, relationships," he replied, not missing a beat.

Lia felt his gaze burning into the back of her head, try as she might to ignore the implications behind his words.

"Then I'm sure Remus would be delighted to have you, or Peter, if he's your type. He'd probably wet himself from excitement. In fact, date both of them for all I care. It's really none of my business."

She slammed open an empty compartment at the very end of the train to acquire a scintilla of privacy from people who wanted to stare at her like some common zoo animal. Shoving her suitcase inside with far more aggression than was strictly necessary, Lia agonized over her current predicament.

Sirius leaned his tall frame purposefully against the door, blocking her in, despite her oh-so-sublte hints to leave her alone.

"This compartment's _full_," Lia stressed, trying to ram the door closed, regardless of him being in the way.

Shrugging, he ducked past her inside. She could only watch in annoyance as he stretched himself across the entire left hand bench.

"I suppose the compartment will be full when everyone finally gets here." He yawned innocently, as Lia glared daggers into the back of his head.

This was not going as planned. She and Remus had gone over a basic course of action for how to best cozy up to some potential Death Eaters but apparently neither of them took into account just how persistent Sirius could be. Normally, she would find his antics amusing, _endearing_ even, but those days were behind them. Right now he was only ruining well thought out plans before they even got off the ground.

He needed to leave her alone for it to work. She had to ditch her old friends, no matter the cost. If she had to reach new lows, she would do it, so long as she got revenge in the end. She didn't mind becoming a monster to destroy another monster.

"Fine." Lia grabbed her luggage to leave. Again, Sirius took hold of the other end of the handle, preventing her swift exit.

_Whatever it takes_, she reminded herself, raising her wand.

A second later, Sirius retracted his hand like it had been burned, which, as a matter of fact, it had. Well, the spell only made it feel like he'd been burned, but the results were still the same. It visibly took him a moment to connect the dots to what she'd done, only realising it when he noticed her wand held aloft. His handsome face shifted from vaguely confused to furious instantaneously.

"So that's how this is gonna be, Lia?" he growled, massaging his fingers. "Your resorting to using magic against your friends now?"

"I told you to leave me alone," she said. "I thought that since words obviously don't permeate your thick skull, maybe actions would. I just— I just don't care about you guys anymore. It's nothing personal."

Though she fed him the lies, she tasted their bitterness on her own tongue, especially as hurt flashed across Sirius's face, quickly covered up by cold calculation.

People who had been steadily streaming down the train in search of free compartments dwindled to a halt, electing to instead watch their heated exchange.

The onlookers gave Lia an idea. If she couldn't get rid of them, she could at least use them to her advantage. Let them spread more rumours, and maybe whispers would even reach Voldemort himself.

"You don't mean that." Sirius searched Lia's hands for the ruby-encrusted ring he witlessly informed her she fidgeted with in the midst of a lie. He wouldn't find it. Disconcerted, he continued, "You can't expect me to believe you feel nothing anymore? For any of us?"

He reached to take her hand again, but she was quicker, smacking his away. She didn't look him in the eye, didn't look at him at all. It would have hurt too much with the words she needed to say for a clean break.

"I feel nothing." she stated hollowly. "I feel nothing for you, nothing at all."

She turned on her heels, rushing past the onlookers before Sirius could think to follow.

As she ducked into a new compartment, letting herself slide to the ground against the glass door, she couldn't help but wish those last words were true, because, for some reason, that lie stung far more than the rest.

_I wish I could feel nothing_, she thought, cupping her face in her hands. _I_ _really do_.

• — • — •

As Aeliana exited the train upon arriving at Hogwarts, she was intercepted by a severe looking Professor Mcgonagall. James trailed reluctantly behind her.

"As Head Girl and Boy, you two are required to be briefed by the Headmaster immediately following the welcoming feast. You are to head directly to his office, where he will tell you all you need to know about the duties required of you." Lia got the distinct feeling from the terseness in her tone that she had given these exact orders many times before. "The password to get inside is '_Chocolate Button_.' Good day Mr. Potter. Ms. Gryffindor."

McGonagall nodded to each of them in turn, not waiting for a response before rushing off to herd first years to be sorted back up at the castle.

"So, I guess we should get going?" James asked uneasily, obviously aware of the row she and Sirius had earlier aboard the train.

Lia turned on her heel without responding and stormed up to the castle behind Mcgonagall, leaving a puzzled James far behind.

_It's nothing personal._

• — • — •

The welcoming feast felt especially long this year. Maybe it was because Lia sat on the exact opposite end of the table as all her old friends, with nothing to do but listen to the room gossip.

"Did you hear? She had a huge fight on the train with that one guy. You know, Sirius Black. Aren't they friends?"

"She looks pretty sick, if you ask me."

"I wonder what really happened with her family. Do you think she'd tell me if I asked?"

"She seems a little scary, if you ask me."

"I was there for her breakdown last year, when she found out about the deaths, you know?"

"Kind if suspicious that she's the only one alive, if you ask me. Do you think she had a part in her family's murders? She might have wanted the family fortune early. She was only the _second _born, after all."

For whatever reason, listening to them starved her of an appetite, even for a sumptuous feast such as this one. She sat stoically at the end of the table, staring forward and doing her best to appear indifferent. Every once and awhile she located the face behind a gossiping voice and would stare them down until they struggled to finish their sentence. They were far less inclined to complete a blathering thought knowing that she was aware of exactly what they were saying. By dessert, Lia found that, as a topic of conversation, she became a whole lot less interesting for the students within glaring range.

When Dumbledore finally dismissed the students to their dorms, Lia almost tripped over a scrambling Hufflepuff first year. Based on the look of absolute terror that flashed across his face, you'd have thought he accidentally stepped in a chimaera. It was strange to think that she commanded such a dark reputation even though her only notable accomplishment was outliving all of her relatives.

She waited around for James at the stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office for nearly five minutes before he arrived. What took him so long, she would never know, but she could hazard a guess that it often had black fur and an obnoxious smirk.

"You're late," Lia stated without inflection. "Let's get this over with."

Staring at her cautiously out of the corner of his eye, he told the Gargoyle the password.

He stepped back, allowing her to go first. Forcing herself to not glance at him or so much as utter a polite "thank you," Lia marched up the stairs.

The door to Dumbledore's office was ajar. Nothing had changed since the last time she visited. The strange trinkets still littered his desk, creating a cacophony of whistling, bubbling, hissing, and ticking. Past the steam and twinkling lights sat Albus Dumbledore, pouring over several thick documents crowding his desk.

She knocked thrice on the door frame before letting herself in, James a half-step behind.

"Ah, there you are, we have much to go over before we can find sanctuary in our beds," Dumbledore greeted, waving a wrinkled hand before two chairs, indicating they should sit.

Lia went out of her way to sit in the seat she hadn't used when she received the news of the murders. The way the headmaster's piercing eyes considered her afterwards made her think he didn't miss the significance of her actions.

"So what, exactly, are our duties, Professor?" James prompted as the silence stretched to a near uncomfortable extent.

"Of course, your primary..." Dumbledore began, but Lia promptly zoned out.

Before long, her fingers hurt from digging painfully into the chair and she had to work to keep her breathing even. All she could hear was an echo of the last conversation she had before her whole life changed, stages on repeat. "_They're dead_." _Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead._

"-is that understood?"

James nodded resolutely, rising to his feet. Clearly they were being dismissed, so Lia snapped back to reality and followed him to the door, but something prevented her from going any further.

"Is there something I can help you with, Aeliana?" Dumbledore inquired, peering up from his papers, when she still didn't move.

Coming to a decision, she finally asked, "Professor, do you know who Tom Riddle is?"

Dumbledore paused his elegant script mid-word, laying down his feathered quil slowly, where it smeared ink over the rest of his letter. The way his piercing blue eyes stared at her over his half-moon spectacles gave the impression that he was looking straight into her head. Lia consciously put in an effort to close her mind the way Father taught her as a child. As the seconds ticked on into minutes, it seemed as though he might not answer, but, with one final sweeping glance, he sighed.

"Not many people know this, and I can't imagine where you even heard the name," he started, "but that was the given name of Voldemort before he gave it up for a more... intimidating monicker."

At his confirmation, Lia felt rush of several feelings she couldn't quite place. One definitely resembled satisfaction, because she was _right_. It meant those months agonising over him were not wasted after all. Everything made sense.

Overwhelmingly, though, any gratification gained from the revaluation was drowned in a sea of horror as soon as she processed what it meant.

Voldemort stole the Hufflepuff Cup and made it into a Horcrux. Somehow, some way, Caius knew, and his last action before greeting death was to send the sword of Gryffindor to Hogwarts, so Voldemort wouldn't imprint his soul on one of their sacred heirlooms, as well. Did that mean he already had more than one? What madness would that be? Surely even Voldemort had more sense than that?


	10. X:Morality

• — • — •

_Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike._

-OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

The way these past few weeks had been going, Aeliana was going to need something a lot stronger than pumpkin juice to make it through the day. That is, if she even went to breakfast at all. More and more frequently, she found herself skipping meals to find peace and quiet far from Sirius's persistent pestering.

That boy was many things, but a quitter, he was not.

Lia swore to herself the moment she got ahold of that troublesome map of his it would find itself up in flames with its ashes spread across the bottom of the Atlantic for good measure. It made him simply impossible to avoid, despite her best efforts. Every time she looked over her shoulder he was there, feigning ignorance as though he'd only happened to be walking by.

Meal times, of course, were the worst. What could she do? Duck under the table as he strolled by? Classy. Real dignified. Way to make her ancestors proud.

To counter that little problem, Lia kept as far away from the Great Hall as possible, even if it meant skipping more meals than strictly recommended. On the plus side, those times were the only ones she didn't have to worry about anyone breathing down her neck, so Lia actually get quite a lot of work done.

She supposed she could put on an invisibility charm to go pilfer food incognito, but it would lead to awkward questions when she inevitably walked into someone. She'd even mulled over the idea of using a summoning charm to get food from the table without having to actually go inside, but something told her that flying toast would leave a literal trail of breadcrumbs to her location anyway.

After several days of this, Remus took to ferrying Lia food whenever he could slip away. It was a bit tricky to do it regularly, though, because they weren't supposed to be in contact. If Sirius noticed them together, things would become... problematic.

That's how she came to to be huddled against a tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Lia was no fool. She knew Sirius could definitely still find her there with that infernal map, but she counted on him being a.) too busy stuffing his snout at breakfast and b.) too lazy to stalk all the way out there. Anyway, even if he did, Lia would see him coming from a mile away.

That is, if she paid any attention.

"Er... What are you doing all the way out here?"

Lia groaned internally, squeezing her closed eyes even tighter in hope that he'd go away.

"So— what's my brother done this time?"

Lia furrowed her brows in confusion. Brother?

"Regulus?" Her eyes shot open in surprise.

"I have it on good authority that _is_ my name," he confirmed pragmatically. Regulus surveyed her, assessing the leaves in her hair and yesterdays wrinkled robes. Arching a brow, he asked, "Are you hiding?"

"You could say that," she said, squinting up at him.

Over his shoulder, someone hollered something indistinguishable, but Regulus waved the person off. "You guys go on ahead."

Attention back on her, he leaned down, situating himself so that he was sitting on his ankles.

"Rumor has it you're actively avoiding my brother," he stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't know why it comes as a surprise to you; your entire family want nothing to do with him, either," Lia yawned. "I've just wised up."

"That's different," Regulus defended, looking troubled. "I can't just go against my mum. You know how she is. One of us need to make the family proud, and Sirius has made it painfully clear how he feels on the matter."

He didn't sound resentful, merely resigned. Sad, even.

"Anyway, this isn't about me. This is about whatever stupid thing my idiot brother has done to make you avoid him like he's patient zero of a new dragon pox epidemic. I presume he's also the reason I haven't seen you at meals lately. I was actually just about to head to the Great Hall for breakfast with my friends. You should join." Seeing she was about to reject the offer, he quickly added, "And no, don't have to sit with the Gryffindors. You can sit with me, just as long as you actually _eat_, Lia"

"Fine," she sighed, allowing his coercion and her own grumbling belly to win her over. "But if Sirius starts walking in my direction I'm not hesitating to throw you into the line of fire so that I can flee to safety."

Regulus smiled, not quite as handsome as his brother, but twice as innocent. "Were you always this dramatic?"

"_Oy_!" a voice hollered before she could formulate a response. "What're yah doin' so close tah the forest? Tryn'a sneak in, are yah?"

Startled by the noise, Lia smacked her head against the trunk of the tree, causing her to see stars.

"Hey, Hagrid," Regulus greeted the half giant cheerfully.

"And deal with all the horrible monsters you keep hidden in there as pets? Hard pass." Rubbing the soar spot gingerly, Lia winced her way through the small smile she sent him to let him know she was joking. Well, half-joking. You never knew with Hagrid whether there might actually be some nefarious creature hidden away, huddled somewhere with fluffy pink blankets and a teddy bear.

"Oh, it's you two. Though' fer a momen' tha' yah were Sirius," he replied, nodding to Regulus.

Regulus stiffened infinitesimallly at being compared to his brother, but it passed so quickly Lia might have imagined it.

"I take it you've chased him out more than a few times?" he asked, grinning politely.

"It's a full time job, keepin' him an' James out," Hagrid boomed our a laughed. "But yah two best be gettin' on. No need tah be ou' here."

Hagrid waved them off, ambling past, deeper into the thick maze of ancient trees. Soon, they couldn't even see him past the thick mist.

Taking Hagrid's orders seriously, Regulus extended his slim legs until he was standing, bouncing back and forth upon the balls of his feet.

"Come on, let's go. Just sit with me and the Slytherins." He extended a hand to pull her up. "I'll even introduce you to my friends."

Lia had to admit, she couldn't have planned a more fortuitous turn of events if she tried. She and Remus agonised for days over how she might manage to get an "in" with the Death Eaters in the making, and now Regulus just handed her everything she needed on a gold platter.

She placed her hand in his slightly larger one, saying with more twisted sincerity than he would ever know, "I can't wait."

• — • — • — •

You could have heard a pin drop in the Great Hall when Lia sat next to Regulus at the Slytherin long table. It was unorthodox, taboo even, to sit with another House, especially with such bitter rivals as Gryffindor and Slytherin. The fact that she, of all people, had the audacity to do such a thing did not go unnoticed.

Regulus tactfully situated them facing away from the rest of the student body, though harsh gazes still burned into the back of her head. She pretended not to notice.

Regulus, unaccustomed to so much attention, drummed his fingers nervously across his thigh beneath the table, but kept a strict poker face for the rest of the world to see. Inhaling a sharp breath, he threw his other arm over Lia's shoulder— an act resembling something his brother might do— and introduced her to his fellow Slytherins. For a moment, his words echoed uncomfortably loud across the cavernous hall, before being drowned in a cascade of invigorated whispers.

"Aeliana, this is Alecto and Amycus— the twins." He nodded to a pair of seventh years she'd encountered in a few classes over the years. Nodding to a gangly fourth year, he said, "That's Barty, but you probably already

know his family, with your father being in the Ministry and all... I'm... um... sure you know Severus..." he trailed off awkwardly, indicating the dark haired seventh year to her other side.

With the way Sirius tormented him, there little chance he didn't know who she was. He must have hated her, too, for not putting a stop to it all. Frankly, she probably deserved it if he did.

"And this is Corban Yaxley," Regulus finished, lamely.

The assembled group gave Lia a once over with calculating eyes, some more interested than others. Severus merely cast her an bored glance before returning to scribbling in his notebook between spoonfuls of porridge. Barty stared with obvious distaste, but from all her previous encounters with him, he always carried an identically disgusted expression, even around his father. Amycus smiled a smile so devious that it somehow made Lia feel more nervous than before, while his sister regarded her through narrowed eyes. Lia felt as if she was the mouse to Alecto's cat, about to be played with before being gutted. A millisecond later, the calculating expression vanished, as though never there at all, only to be replaced by absolutely feline delight.

"Oh I'm sure we'll be the best of friends," she purred.

_Over my dead body_, was Lia's initial reaction. Somehow, she managed to swallow down the gut reaction and fixed Alecto with an equally sickly sweet grin.

"Oh, I hope so. I find I really am in need of new friends lately," she said, to which Alecto tutted sympathetically. Lia glanced over her shoulder to meet the dark eyes searing a hole in the back of her head as she added, "Friends like Regulus."

Lia made sure Sirius could see her pat his brother's arm affectionately, fixing him with a dim smile, before turning away.

As Alecto loudly voiced her agreement for the the entirety of the expansive room to hear, Lia downed the rest of her hip flask, savouring the burn as it scorched its way down her esophagus.

Yes, today she would need something much, much stronger than pumpkin juice.

**_A/N_**

**_Full disclosure: I've officially been done with this work for like three years. This was my first ever work, so it does have some problems, ones that I try to edit and proofread out as I publish it on this platform, but for obvious reasons I can't change major plot points that I might otherwise want to. In the future, I hope to entirely rewrite it the way I've since reinvisioned the story, and I've done about three chapters already, but I've since gotten distracted with other stories I want to write, so that's a long way down the road._**

**_Anywho, because it's completely done minus new proofreading, I'll be updating every Tuesday until I get to the end. Thanks for reading!_**


	11. XI:Tedious

• — • — •

_It's absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious._

—OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

In retrospect, Aeliana should've known things would end badly the moment she chose an empty bench in Potions. What was she thinking? One didn't get to be Head Girl by making stupid decisions. And mark her words, sitting alone in one of the only classes she had with Sirius definitely fell into the "stupid" category.

The second he slid into the adjacent seat, Lia began cursing every action that she had ever taken in life that led her into that abominable situation. Following his friend's lead, James took his place on Sirius's other side. Remus paused as he took in the situation, giving Lia an apologetic look, before sitting to her left.

"Um... Sirius? Where will Peter sit?" Remus inquired a touch too innocently. "Perhaps we should sit somewhere else..."

He trailed off when it became painfully obvious that Sirius was feigning a bout of deafness.

Slamming his cauldron atop the table with a resounding thud, Sirius turned on Lia, a forced smile plastered across his face.

_Here we go again_, she sighed internally.

"Dearest Lia, light of my life, would you do me the honour of passing the pickled bat spleen?" he asked with exaggerated civility, adding, as if as an afterthought, "Oh, and while you're at it, how about you stop being such a prat?"

"Oh, yes, do be a dear," James imputed from over Sirius's shoulder.

There was no way in hell Lia was going to sit through this for an hour.

"I'll pass. James is enough of a deer for all of us."

Tossing her things back into her cauldron, she pushed back on her stool to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, it seemed that during their little exchange the rest of the class trickled in and took the rest of the seats, leaving none available for Lia's fleeing pleasure.

Fine, ditching one little class couldn't hurt too much.

Remus, noticing the tilt of her head towards the door, correctly guessed the direction her thoughts took. Before she could take the first step to escape, he subtly grabbed ahold of her hand to garner her attention and nodded towards a vacant seat across the room she'd missed.

A seat that so happened to be next to the ever frosty Severus Snape, but Lia would take anything over this. Sirius needed to leave her alone for his own good and she doubted her ability to not fall back into their old teasing if she had to sit beside him.

Beside her, Sirius scrutinised Lia's hand clasped comfortably in Remus's with an unreadable expression. Seeing as he was distracted, she took her chance to break her way across the room and fall into the stool next to Severus.

"_What the hell are you_-" both Sirius's and Severus's identically mirrored furious words were cut off by the arrival of Professor Slughorn.

_My hero_, she thought.

"Just because Regulus let you sit with us, doesn't mean you can just come and sit next to me like we're friends," Severus muttered so low only she could hear, undercutting Slughorn's explanation of the new potion they would be attempting.

"I don't want to sit next to Sirius any more than you would." Severus snorted, disbelieving, at that. "Let me sit here today, and... and, well, I'll figure something else out for the next class."

He let out a huff of annoyance, but still conceded, "Whatever."

•-—•-—•

"Oy! Snivellus!" Sirius's voice rang through out the courtyard. As Severus Snape stiffened in preparation for the fight everyone knew was coming, idle spectators buckled themselves in for a show show.

Severus sprung into action, his wand flying into his hand from somewhere in the depths of his robes. Without a word being spoken, he fired off a hex at Sirius, but James leapt to his best friend's aid in a heart beat. With the casual flick of his wand, he easily deflected Severus' attack, giving Sirius an opening to counter with a jinx of his own.

Outmatched and outmanned, Severus scarcely had time to loose a breath in between firing, dodging, and deflecting. As good a dueler as he may have been, there was no way he was leaving this match on top. Sirius and James were just too good and had strength in numbers.

Sirius was out for blood and it was all Lia's fault.

She shouldn't have dragged Severus into this by sitting beside him. Of course Sirius wouldn't let the slight go. They weren't friendly at the best of times. Naturally he wouldn't take that anger out on her, but rather his usual punching bag.

Sirius finally managed to land a hit with a binding curse, leaving Severus struggling with constricting ropes slithering around him, while he worked to break free, struggling to even breathe.

Onlookers laughed and applauded another entertaining spectacle to take their minds off of their upcoming exams. Although some averted their eyes awkwardly, most showed little sympathy for the torment inflicted on their peer. Remus looked torn, but in the end, he remained impassive, his only act of defiance looking away. Not one person showed the slightest inclination to aid Severus, even as Sirius raised his wand once more to better vent the rage that had been building inside him, like a cancer, for weeks.

The instant he cast his spell, however, Lia stepped forward, casting one of her own. She stormed out of the castle, where she had fully intended to avoid Sirius, and sent a jet of flame arching out of her wand. A towering wall of blue-black fire sprung into existence between Severus and his attackers. Sirius's hex bounced back harmlessly.

Sirius's eyes narrowed dangerously, scouring the gathered audience for the individual stupid enough to interfere. When his dark eyes finally locked onto hers through the crowd, his expression hardened.

Again, that annoying hush that followed Lia around wherever she went these days fell around them like a fog. All she wanted was privacy, to be left alone, but she had to deal with having dozens of eyes watching her every move. There was nothing quite like feeling utterly alone surrounded by hundreds of people.

"So you're protecting him, now?" Sirius asked through gritted teeth, wand still aimed squarely at Severus.

"Your bullshit has gone on quite long enough, Sirius. It's about time someone puts a stop to it," Lia said, stepping in front of the dark inferno.

"And you, Potter," Lia began, his surname tasting foreign on her tongue, "Is this how the Head Boy is expected to act? What example are you trying to set, victimizing the students you hold power over? I'm sure Professor Dumbledore expected better of you. I, however, always knew you were like this."

"It's not like that," James started, but Lia cut him off.

"Like what? Like how it looks?" she asked, laughing as coldly as she could manage. It felt so wrong. "Because trust me, it looks pretty bad."

Lia let the barrier of flame dwindle and fade, leaving only a blackened, burned partition of grass. Taking care to keep her eyes trained on Sirius, she cut Severus from his bindings. He rose unsteadily to his feat, gripping his wand so tightly his knuckles shown white through his skin.

"No one even likes the little slime-ball." Sirius pretended to look around for people idiotic enough to actually prove him wrong. "If it were one of my friends, I'd have put a stop to it, but he doesn't have any! Where are his friends to save him?"

Severus wore a vicious sneer as he tried pushing past Lia, spitting, "Why you arrogant-" but luckily he never got to finish that the sentence.

At that moment, Regulus broke through the crowd, cooling out of a sprint. He made a bee-line to Lia's side, staring down his brother with blistering intensity.

"We're right here." Regulus through an arm over her shoulder. "We are his friends, and we're here to put a stop to whatever you think you're doing, Sirius."

He threw his other arm around Severus, something even the most fearless Gryffindor wouldn't dream of doing. Much to everyone's surprise, Severus let himself be pulled in by Regulus. He didn't shirk his arm off, but still made sure his scowl was painfully prominent.

"Of course you'd make friends with garbage like that. I'm sure Mother _loves_ him. A nice Slytherin," Sirius growled. "You could do so much better, Regulus."

The corners of his lips tilted down slightly as he took in his brother, undercutting his angry words.

"No, Sirius, _you_ could do so much better," Regulus countered, pointedly looking at James, then Peter, and finally an ashamed Remus. "We just want to change the world."

The air shifted, and everyone knew they weren't talking about Severus anymore.

"Bloody hell, he's evil. Look at what he did to Aeliana's parents." Sirius turned to Lia, a desperation uncharacteristic of him written clear upon his face. "_He killed_ _your_ _parents_!"

She rolled her eyes, and let sarcasm seep deep into her words. "Wow, I completely forgot that happened. Thank goodness you're here to remind me. Whatever would I do without you?"

Sirius was cracking. The seeds of doubt she had been planting finally taken root. She could see in his eyes that he was beginning to wonder if she truly had changed so much. It was only a matter of time before he gave up on her completely, and then he would finally be safe. Safe far, far away, in case she failed. All he needed was one final push.

"My parents..." Lia drawled slowly, running a finger along her wand's smooth finish. "My parents were fools."

She felt Regulus tense, the arm still draping her shoulder growing still as stone. Even Remus, who knew the full extent of her plans, seemed visibly shocked by the statement. By far the most devastated, though, was Sirius. He stumbled back a step, as if the callous words dealt a physical blow.

"You don't mean that," he breathed.

Lia shook her head serenely. "My family lived in a different age. Times are changing, yet they sought to stymie progress in order to consolidate their own power." Her voice remained oddly level as she spoke the words she should have choked on. It felt like someone else possessed her body, and she was just a spectator watching from far away. "They had every opportunity to join in ushering in a new era. Instead, they made themselves... obstacles. And obstacles must be removed for the advancement of our kind, of _wizard_-kind."

"You're talking about murder, Lia! Of your own family! Your brother, and even children!" James cut in, saving Sirius from being forced to respond, since he seemed absolutely speechless, frozen in place.

"Every cause has its sacrifices. Every revolution has its casualties." She shrugged. "Caius, Father, Mother, they were just sacrifices for the greater good."

Sirius's hands had long since balled into tight, quivering fists. He shook his head in disbelief.

"They're _bad_ people, Lia. Horrible, _evil_ people."

Lia shot a pointed look from him and James to Severus and back.

"If you two are what's to be considered good in this scenario, bullying students for no other reason than a vague sense of dislike, then I think... I think I'd much rather be bad."

With that, she steered Regulus and Severus around to make their way back up to the castle before the crowd drew unwanted attention, specifically, McGonagall's. Frankly, it was a miracle she hadn't arrived already, considering the size of the spectacle.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lia caught Alecto keenly watching them, like Lia had hoped, as they walked through the great oak doors. A wicked smile spread across Alecto's face. Lia turned away, so Alecto wouldn't see the matching one forming on hers.

_Looks like I'm in_.

**_A/N_**

**_This covid stuff is getting pretty out of hand, huh? Hopefully everyone's doing alright out there. Best wishes and Happy Quarenrine!_**


	12. XII:Glass

• — • — •

After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.

-OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

There's a peculiar feeling people get, almost instinct, when they walk into a room and whispers sink into heavy, weighted silence. It's irritating when it happens once, but Lia was positively hostile after a month of such greetings, sick and tired of being the source of never ending gossip.

So, so tired.

This time, though, Lia wasn't sure it was necessarily a bad thing when she stepped into the Slytherin Common Room, upon Regulus' invitation, to experience that exact same phenomenon again.

Alecto, Amycus, Severus, Barty, and Regulus huddled in front of their fire on the chilly October morning, whispering furiously. Alecto noticed Lia enter first and put a quick end to their conversation.

"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed, aiming a discrete, albeit sharp, nudge into her brother's ribcage. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever arrive."

With hands clasped tightly together and what was probably supposed to be a friendly smile, she flitted her way through their circle, stalking towards Lia in an almost predatory manner.

Fixing her own expression into a mask of earnestness, Lia said, "I hope I didn't come at a bad time. All Regulus said over breakfast was that he wanted to see me before class started. He gave me the password to get inside..."

Leaping forward with evident delight, reminiscent of a puppy about to receive a bone, Regulus jumped in, "As long as you got here, it's okay. We were just getting ready to leave actually."

"Leave?" she asked.

Severus shot Regulus an irritated look. "You didn't even tell her?"

"I was going to tell her when she got here!" Regulus defended.

Severus sighed in apparent exasperation, but let it slide. Luckily, he warmed up to Lia after the incident with James and Sirius, if you could call going from frigid, subarctic temperatures to just a casual snowstorm warming up.

"Idiot," Barty muttered under breathe, looking pointedly at Regulus.

Unfazed, Regulus hopped over the back of a couch into a sitting position.

Looking slightly guilty, he began, "I sort of lied."

Immediately, Lia's hackles rose. She didn't trust a single one of them as far as she could throw them, and knowing that the only one she put one scintilla of faith in had lied was hardly comforting.

He continued, "When I said I wanted to see you before class, I guess I wasn't clear enough. We actually aren't going to class at all today."

"And... why is that?" she asked slowly.

Alecto drummed her long, blood-red fingernails impatiently across a large wooden table, huffing, "Since Regulus won't get to the point, I guess I will." She walked towards the entrance of the Common Room and flung it open. "Yesterday, Severus spotted his filthy blood-traitor brother," she nodded at Regulus, "climbing out of a mirror in the bathroom on the second floor. We're going to go see where it leads."

Lia knew, in fact, exactly where it led, thanks to Sirius. It was a straight line directly into a shop in Hogsmeade, but she didn't mention that. Lia was so incensed by what Alecto had called him she nearly blew her cover then and there. If being a blood traitor meant not carrying about the significance of the lottery of birth, then of course Sirius was a blood traitor. So was she. And Lia wouldn't change that about him for the whole world.

Somehow, she managed to keep her mouth shut and face impassive. She had to remind herself that everyone thought she hated Sirius, and it needed to stay that way. As the expression went, fool your friends to fool your enemies. Lia didn't care what anyone thought of her, so long as her friends didn't die the same horrible deaths of her family. They were all she had left.

Oblivious to how close she'd been to being cursed into a sea snail, Alecto strutted out of the common room, with her brother only following a heartbeat behind. Next, Barty pushed himself off a wall after the siblings. Regulus hopped off the back of the couch, offering Lia both a reassuring smile and his hand, which she took. Severus waited only long enough to see that they were coming, before trailing after his other friends.

• — • — •

After a somewhat unreasonable number of insults directed at Severus for the sheer length of the passage — as though he could somehow control it —they finally arrived in Hogsmeade, like Lia knew they would.

"Oh, this has possibilities," Alecto mused as she surveyed their surroundings, a dangerous glint in her eye.

If there was anything Lia learned these past weeks, it was that Alecto fancied herself a dictator of sorts. She pushed people to do things, and they did it just to forestall any arguments. So when Lia saw the look on Alecto's face, Lia knew it could only mean bad news.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked her brother.

He nodded mutely. Amycus never spoke much when Lia was around.

"You," she pointed at Lia, "and him together." She jabbed her thumb towards Regulus. Sauntering past, she did the same with Severus and Barty, pairing them all together.

"Okay, let's go."

"Hold on,"Regulus began. "You didn't say where we're going."

"Oh, keep up!" she snapped. "Amycus understood perfectly where we're going."

Barty muttered mutinously under his breath, "Only because your creepy twin telepathy..."

Severus remained stoic. "Explain."

Despite his usual veneer of disdain, deep, deep down, Lia suspected he (probably) cared about his friends. Maybe. At least enough to tag along with whatever stupid scheme concocted using the only three synapsing brain cells in their entire group and make sure no one got themselves killed. Still, when he wanted answers you gave him answers.

"Fine," Alecto sighed with exaggerated distress. "I have it on good authority that the Malfoy's have a wondrous stash of liquor, all tragically going to waste in their basement, possibly to never to breathe fresh air again. We're going to... borrow it. It would be a disservice not to." She grinned deviously. Before anyone could process what a terrible idea it was, she Apparated, her brother following seconds later.

Barty appeared enthusiastic about this plan, even through the rest of them exchanged incredulous glances.

"Well, come on then! What are we waiting for?" he nudged Severus, arm out, because he was far too young to Apparate by himself and needed a lift.

"She's a fool," was all Severus said, before grabbing Barty tightly around the arm, like a father might to a misbehaving child, and disappearing with a sharp crack!

"Mind giving me a lift?" Regulus asked, hand extended. "There's no telling what Alecto will get up to unsupervised. We should go so she doesn't get hurt."

"If she goes robbing the manor of Vo— I mean, You-Know-Who's biggest supporter while apparently supervised, I shudder to think of the things she gets up to when your not around," Lia scoffed.

Regulus shrugged. Lia took his hand securely in hers, letting the pressure from the distortion of our place in the universe carry them to Malfoy Manor. The next instant, she felt herself being yanked down.

"Lay low," Severus warned, his other hand still securely fastened around Barty's bicep.

"Let go!" Barty whined.

Not sparing a glance for his captive, he said simply, "No."

"Took you guys long enough," Alecto hissed. "I thought I'd have to steal everything myself."

This posed a moral dilemma. Lia was raised a strict abider of the law, so breaking, entering, and stealing definitively came to be problematic. On the other hand, though, was stealing from a Death Eater really so bad, even if it was with other future Death Eaters? Just this once, Lia could make an exception from her law-abiding. After all, Mr Malfoy probably helped Voldemort kill her parents, not to mention the fact that she still needed to gain these peoples trust so they'd bring her to Voldemort.

"I guess if we're going to do this, we should do it right," Regulus relented. "My cousin is married to Lucius Malfoy, and our blood has been intermingling for centuries, so I know for a fact that there's a secret passage leading directly to the cellar from behind a statue on the east side," he explained, resigned, but pointing everyone in the right direction nonetheless.

"This is why we keep you around," Alecto purred, taking off, all caution to the wind.

Like Regulus said, if they were going to do this, they might as well do it right. With that thought, Lia chased after the younger Carrow sibling to make sure she didn't set off any protective enchantments.

For a learned wizard, it isn't that difficult to spot where a spell had been cast, but Lia was unpracticed, at best. Her father taught her the signs, but it was rather hard to notice them while moving at a full sprint. Twice Lia noticed them only a second before Alecto would trigger it, meaning she had only that long to full on tackle Alecto out of the way.

Lia was certain they, that is to say Alecto, had set off some sort of alarm by walking through the traps that they failed to dismantle. To her dismay, Alecto practically skipped through them, not a care to be had. If a flaming fireball shot strategically at Lia's head, she fancied she'd react a bit more strongly than just cackling. Had Lia not intervened on Alecto's behalf, she'd have been more eligible to join the Headless Hunt than Nearly Headless Nick.

Without losing any precious body parts, somehow they managed to find the statue Regulus indicated as a passage to the cellar. From there, it was smooth sailing, right? Grab the liquor and run, right?

Wrong.

They did, in fact, manage to effectively nick some alcohol. Barty, for one, seemed reminiscent of a squirrel hoarding nuts right before winter. He must have grabbed at least seven bottles for himself. Severus took a mere two bottles, hiding them easily in the confines of his robes, while Regulus snatched three, his logic being that he wasn't allowed to use his wand to get out of there anyway so he didn't need worry about keeping his wand arm free. Lia claimed a single bottle only after Alecto shoved it into her arms.

Alecto uncorked her first bottle before she even took a step outside, which might have been why she didn't see the spell coming. No doubt Lucius Malfoy, inspecting who had set off all those alarms.

Lia's immediate instinct was to make herself invisible and get out of there, but she'd come too far to lose their trust so easily, not to mention that she couldn't abandon Sirius's brother like that. Even Severus was starting to grow on her, if only slightly.

Instead, Lia let the glass bottle in her right hand crash to the Earth in an explosion of glass and amber liquid. With not a second to spare, she grabbed ahold of Alecto, still obliviously taking a long sip, with one hand, and Regulus with her other.

The world shifted around them as they Apparated to safety, altering Malfoy's spell from its original destination and causing it to pierce the bottle Alecto still had held to her lips just as they disappeared in a storm of glass and spell-light.

The instant before they were gone entirely, Lia looked to Severus, mouthing two words: the tunnel.

He got the message. Scarcely a second after they touched the ground again, Severus was there, Amycus and Barty in tow. Evidently the tumultuous Apparation loosed some bottles from his grip, since Barty now only carried a meagre five bottles.

When they all realised what had just happened, they couldn't help but be overtaken with delirious, disbelieving laughter, even Severus, who Lia sweared she caught smiling at one point. Coupled with somewhere around a dozen bottles of alcohol, a long walk through the tunnel back up to the castle, and a newfound sense of camaraderie, their lips gradually loosened, secrets spilled.

"You know, I probably shouldn't be saying this," Alecto slurred after awhile, through copious sips of fire-whisky, "but the Dark Lord is interested in you. Very interested..." Another mouthful. Almost bitterly, she added, "What makes you so special? Why bother with you?"

• — • — •

One after another, they half walked, half fell through the mirror at the end of the passage in a haphazard jumble of laughing and shushing. It was long past curfew, they had all been drinking, stealing, breaking and entering, ditching class, and sneaking off the grounds, so they needed to be quiet if they didn't want McGonagall to execute them in the forbidden forest at dawn.

"Shut it! We're gonna get caught," Severus slurred back at the rest of them as he rose unsteadily to his feet.

"Oh, sod off," Barty managed in between breathless burst of laughter, still lying stomach-down on the cold tile floor.

Alecto fell through last, landing directly on an unsuspecting Barty, who had still failed to move. Despite their efforts to stifle their maniacal giggles, this set them again into another violent fit, while Barty cursed her out profusely. Eventually, his own inebriated state proved too much for his conscious grasp of irritation, and he failed in his insults long enough to join the laughter.

Despite the company, this was the lightest Lia had felt in weeks.

_I shouldn't be drinking_, she told herself, even as she took another massive drought from her flask. She let the fire cascading down her throat purge any worries, if only for a small while.

After ensuring nobody was patrolling the corridor, Severus ordered everyone out.

"And for Merlin's sake, lower your voice," he called after Alecto, who was singing off-key at the top of her voice.

Swaying slightly, she flipped him off and kept going on her merry way. The move was somewhat undercut, however, when a dangerous mixture of gravity and inertia found her nearly face planting. Had Amycus not been a step behind to catch her, as always, she would have screeched far more than song lyrics.

Regulus and Lia followed last into the corridor, since Lia, despite her alcohol induced delirium, was still prudent enough to remember to firmly close the entrance to the secret passage. It wouldn't remain a secret for long if they left it open.

When done, Regulus held his wavering arms open, like a toddler.

"Carry me, Lia," he ordered with a deceptively serious expression plastered across his face.

"Maybe next time," she laughed, trying, and failing, to push him out the door with both arms.

Lacking in fine motor control, he stumbled forward face first into the ground, leaving her to trip and land with her hands atop his back. The sweet sound of his laughter echoed down the corridor.

"Come on, let's go before McGonagall finds us," Lia said, rising up and offering a hand.

He took it, nearly sending her toppling directly back to the floor.

Regulus noticed a begrudging Severus trying to half carry, half drag an unconscious Barty and jogged unsteadily forth to give him aid. Together, they each slung one of his arms over their shoulders, and the three set off after the still too singing Alecto, leaving Lia to trail along at the rear.

She just finished taking another long swig from her flask, turning a corner, when a pair of arms covered her mouth, her screams, and pulled her into the deep darkness.

**_A/N_**

**_Alas, whoever could it be?_**

**_Sorry for the long wait, but, in my defense, I'm lazy._**

**_Also I had been feeling discouraged about the quality of this story, but someone left the sweetest comment on it on another platform and now I feel better about uploading it here too! _  
**

**_Happy Social Distancing!_**


	13. XIII:Love

• — • — •

_SYet each man kills the thing he loves,_

_By each let this be heard,_

_Some do it with a bitter look,_

_Some with a flattering word._

_The coward does it with a kiss,_

_The brave man with a sword_

-OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

"So that is where you've been hiding," a low voice whispered, soft as a bated breath, into Lia's ear from behind.

Heart hammering a mile a minute, she somehow recognised the voice through the alcoholic haze clouding her thoughts.

She would recognise it anywhere.

Sirius pulled her down the dark passage, one hand still covering her mouth, the other tightly coiled around her middle. It was a good thing, too, because all the drinking left Lia clumsy and light headed, not to mention foolish enough to not run away, despite the rational part of her brain screaming that going anywhere with Sirius could ruin everything. Months of planning — wasted in seconds. For some reason, that didn't seem to matter very much at the moment.

Pausing outside an empty classroom, Sirius peered inside before pushing the door aloft and dragging Lia in after. Once he'd closed the door quietly behind him and leaned up against it, he finally let her go, seeming somewhat reluctant to do so.

For what seemed like an age, he didn't say a word. Lia could see displeasure rolling of his glowering frame in waves, but it was hard to care when she drank as much as she had. Her blissful indifference seemed to only add to his annoyance.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he finally asked. "Sitting next to my brother at lunch and Snivellus in Potions is one thing, but skipping off the grounds with them hand in hand and then coming back drunk with the most depraved students in all of Hogwarts is far stupider than anything even _James_ would have dreamed up."

He took a forceful step forward, and she took a matching, albeit teetering, one back. Before she could process what was happening, his hand shot out toward her face, leaving Lia with no time to do anything besides flinch. His lips thinned at her reaction and he narrowed his eyes as he cupped her cheek, nudging it to the side for better inspection.

"Is this blood?" he demanded when his fingers came away red. "What did they do to you?"

"It's from all the shattered glass," she defended, ducking clumsily away. "Alecto got it much worst. She was actually drinking from the bottle when it got hit."

Sirius stared for a moment, brow raised skeptically, and Lia knew instantly that he couldn't have cared less about Alecto's wellbeing if he'd been payed. Despite her weak protestations, he managed to use the edge of his robes to wipe the blood from her cheek.

"Bloody hell, you're hammered," he decided after he finished, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"Am not!" she cried, stepping forward in indignation, only to stumble slightly over thin air, hoping he didn't notice. "I am perfectly sober."

"Evidently," Sirius said flatly, not at all impressed.

Lia reached into her robes and pulled out the flask, raising it to her lips, only for Sirius to snatch it away in the next instant.

"Hey! That's mine!" she complained, batting him furiously to retrieve it. "Give it back, you mangy mutt!"

"That's enough of that for you." He flipped it over in the air, catching it with his other hand. "For the next ten years, I might add."

"You can't just take my things," she muttered mutinously.

"Watch me." After a time, consisting mostly of annoyed scowling on Lia's part, he said, "I've thought about it, and I've decided that I don't believe a word you've said these last few months, possibly ever. You're definitely up to something..." His jaw clenched ever so subtly at a sudden, intrusive thought. "Both you and Remus. He tried to convince me to leave you alone, can you believe that?" He shook his head incredulously. "He says to let you be, but then half the time when I check the Marauder's Map late at night your names are right next to each other — what's up with that? What makes him better than me? How can you avoid me like dragonpox, only to run to him? And don't even start me about my brother and the other Slytherins!"

Unscrewing the cap, he threw back his head to down the contents of Lia's flask in one fluid motion. He'd have a hard time finishing it, if that was his goal. The flask had been magically expanded by generations of drunkards so that it could drive the whole of the Ministry plus Hagrid into a weeklong drunken stupor before emptying. The entire government would crumble before Lia would have to go sober. She had her Great-Uncle Alexi to thank for that. His drinking exploits were stuff of legend.

"Hey," she complained, somewhat lamely. "That's mine!"

Taking another step forward, he repeated, "What is Remus to you? Do you like him? Is that why you hate being around me so much now?" Each question came out quicker than the last, more demanding. "Is it because he came to you on your birthday, and I didn't? Are you two... together? Is that it? Do you like him?"

"Of course," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "He's my best friend."

Seemingly before he could think better of it, he said, sounding hurt, "I thought I was your best friend."

Lia shook her head, letting her hair obscure her face.

Smiling vaguely from blissful inebriation, she continued. "I do love Remus," Sirius flinched as though he'd been slapped, but she continued, "as a friend. I can tell him anything and I don't have to worry that he'll do anything rash."

"You used to tell me everything."

"You're an idiot," she said simply, shrugging. "You jump into things without thinking. You'd do anything for your friends. I bet you'd even die for them." Lia closed the last distance between them, so their chests were nearly touching. Before she regained enough sense to stop herself, she added, "And I can't take that chance, because I don't want you to die. I don't want to be the one to kill you, Sirius. I don't want to be the reason you're dead — or anyone else."

Abruptly, he squeezed right on her shoulders in a I'm-going-to-shake-into-you sort of way, and Lia felt her knees give out, sending them both crumbling together to the ground. Luckily, was too much alcohol in her system to properly register the pain, but that didn't mean she wouldn't feel it in the morning.

"I'm not going to die, Lia."

"Famous last words," she whispered into his shoulder, more to herself than anyone else. "I'm sure my brother didn't think he would die, either. The girl you think you remember — the one you still want to be friends with — died with the rest of her family. She doesn't exist anymore."

"No." He gripped Lia tighter, as though afraid she'd slip through his fingers like ash. "You're right here, Aeliana. You loved them, and they wouldn't want to see you heading down this road." He leaned back, far enough so that he could see her face, their breaths intermingling. "I don't know what exactly you're doing, but I know for a fact Caius would want you to move on. He wouldn't want your grief to consume you. He'd tell you to pull yourself together already, even if you don't much feel like it!"

"You're right. I don't feel like it."

"Of course I am." There was no trace of humor in his voice, only a harsh, desperate longing. "I know you better than you know yourself."

"I'm beyond saving." Lia found it in herself to force a bitter smile. "It's not worth the effort."

Sirius pushed a mussed lock of hair out of her face, letting his hand linger. "I'd like to see you try and stop me from trying."

Their noses touched. Lia didn't even remember moving closer, but they were like two magnets, drawn together naturally. Effortlessly. Lia knew she wouldn't have let herself fall into this situation had she been sober. She wouldn't have spoken a word, but right then, she couldn't find it within herself to care. Sirius felt safe, familiar. It was so easy to fall back into his orbit.

A blanket of raw moonlight filtered through an open window, bathing Sirius in its glow and reflecting off his dark eyes and raven hair. It made him look younger, more perfect, like something sculpted onto marble. Perfect, at least to her. At least right then.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked, so close she could feel the soft texture of his lips forming the words against hers.

Strange.

He never bothered to ask for anything before in his life.

In response, Lia only had to stop what little fight she had left and let the magnetic pull draw them together. It was soft — sweet — despite the sharp tang of alcohol on both sides.

Drawing back only slightly, she felt Sirius' mouth whispered into hers, "Let me save you, Lia."

"I can't," she breathed back, just as softly.

He crashed their lips together more forcefully, before repeating, "Let me save you."

"I won't," she replied, just as determined.

Each time she refused, he let his anger and despair show only in the fierceness of the kiss, growing stronger each time. Lia didn't know how long it went on, only that in a perfect world, it would have gone on forever.

Eventually, they merely laid together on the cold stone floor of the classroom, alone under the moon's soothing caress. Despite the floor's hardness, it was the most comfortable she'd been in ages, with her head tucked safely under his.

"I will save you," Sirius whispered into her hair, not bothering to ask permission this time. "From... from whatever it is you're doing."

"You don't even know I'm up to anything," she said wryly, peaking up at him.

"Please," he scoffed. "It's obvious."

As the soothing tide of sleep pulled her under, Lia admitted privately, _Well, if anyone could save me from myself, it would be you._

_It would be you_.

**A/N**

**Not my fave but alas here it is... Between y'all and me, the second half of the story is my favorite, so we're almost there. **


	14. XIV:Monsters

• — • — •

_He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster._

_—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE_

• — • — •

Aeliana stepped into the Slytherin common room the next morning to a choir of agonised groans. The fools looked even worst than she felt, which was actually rather impressive, all things considered. Her head pounded like a drum, and combined with the added guilt drowning her conscience from last night, all she really wanted was to lie down in a nice dark room, blissfully alone, for six to nine months to sort herself out.

Unfortunately, that wasn't likely to happen.

The dungeons gave no hint as to the hour, but assuming she'd returned to the castle at about eleven pm and then passed out for a handful of hours in that abandoned classroom with Sirius — a mistake if she'd ever made one — it was likely now somewhere between three and four in the morning. If that was the case, then Lia was in the clear, because students wouldn't begin the long crawl up the stairs into the common room until around a quarter past eight for class.

The fact that the average Slytherin student didn't even wake up until half an hour before lessons began when they still need to get ready, eat breakfast, and possibly sprint up several flights of stairs to get anywhere in this godforsaken castle was a discussion for another time.

Regardless, it gave her enough time to straighten up the common room up before witnesses surfaced.

"Come on, up you get," Lia sighed, pulling Regulus's arm over her shoulder to drag him to bed.

"Kill me. It would be kinder," he groaned back, passively fighting her attempts at relocation.

"Don't tempt me," she grunted, hoisting him onto his feet with one large pull.

Slowly, they made their way up the stairs — for all the help he provided she might as well have been dragging a corpse — until finally she dropped him unceremoniously on his four-poster.

"That wasn't very nice," he complained into his pillow, just loud enough for her to hear, but not wake any others.

"Well, I'm not nice," Lia whispered back, stomping down to go collect someone else. "Be glad I didn't toss you on the floor."

When she stepped back into the common room, Lia was surprised to find Severus roused from his slumber, picking up bottles of fire whisky and whatever else they'd had stolen from the Malfoy's cellar. When they were all collected into a pile, he effortlessly performed a vanishing charm, ridding all evidence of their crime.

"I heard you come in," he said by way of greeting.

"Sorry if I woke you," Lia replied, slightly on edge. Did he want to know where she had been? He certaintly wasn't a keynote member of the Sirius Black Fan Club. "I think I must have passed out on the way here."

He nodded, tidying up a few more disheveled objects — a misplaced couch, an overturned chair — before taking hold of one of Barty's arms and spearing Lia with a look that clearly said, A little help?

Together they ferried Barty and the twins up to their appropriate rooms, though Lia had to take Alecto all the way down the seventh flights of stairs alone, due to the charm keeping boys from the girls' rooms.

Lia and Severus didn't talk much, working in comfortable silence until the last drunken idiot, Amycus, was safely tucked into his four poster. As they slept, it was hard to believe that these people held the same beliefs that led to the Gryffindor family's demise. A part of Lia, a part of her that she hated, was almost growing fond of some of them, despite everything. She knew they were bad people and that they believed in horrid, disgusting things, but they weren't always bad. She didn't know what she had envisioned, perhaps some stereotypical villains that went about kicking starving puppies.

For some, like Regulus and Severus, Lia wondered if they were more a victim of circumstance, swept up in the tide of hate until it was too late to turn back. Maybe that would happen to her too. It was hard to hate Regulus when he acted more like a protective little brother, or Severus who watched over his friends with the resigned zeal if a prison warden, or even Barty who, for all intents and purposes, was just an annoying fourteen year old kid. Annoying, yet idolising a murderer.

Her whole being _ached_ to murder Voldemort and the rest of them for what they did. That whole "Two wrongs don't make right," nonsense was just that. Nonsense. If she had to tear her soul in two pieces, or three, or four, or even a thousand, by murdering them, then so be it. If only a monster could kill monster, then she didn't mind becoming one.

Before her tumultuous thoughts got the better of her actions, Lia turned to leave.

"Goodnight, Lia," Severus muttered, sounding somewhat begrudging. The fact that he deigned to say it at all, however, spoke volumes.

Lia paused at the door, keeping her face in the shadows.

"Sleep tight, Sev."

If he could have seen her expression at that moment, she was sure he would have recognized the guilt etched across it. Guilt, because one day she would kill him.

• — • — •

Days stretched into weeks until Aeliana found herself staring at the middle of December.

She discovered that ditching class became easier the more she did it, and her detentions often coincided with her accomplices', which was a plus.

It was one such instance of skipping — a Charms lesson to be specific — in which she was jumped by Professor McGonagall, or at least it sure felt that way. How the professor found her was the least of her worries, because just a single glimpse of her severe, executioner-esque expression as she swept across the lazy blown grass of the courtyard was sure to decrease Lia's life expectancy by a decade. This area was in something of a blind spot on the grounds, and in weeks of illicit usage, they all had yet to be happened upon by staff once during their ditching sessions, not even by Hagrid.

Lia remained spread out across the lush green as McGonagall strode up to her, eyes barely containing her volcanic fury, while Lia's accomplices — i.e. Alecto, Amycus, and Severus — leaned casually in the shade of an alcove, safely out of immediate sight. Knowing it was already too late to save herself, Lia sighed and silently cast an illusion spell over the other three. Might as well let the others live on to see tomorrow, even if her own chances of survival were looking slimmer by the second.

Swiftly, and inconspicuously as possible so the hawk-eyed McGonagall might miss it, Lia shot Severus a meaningful glance, warning him to keep the others quiet, because she had no doubt he'd noted her subtle wand movements.

Leaning back onto the bed of grass, the picture of nonchalance, Lia asked, "Is there something I can help you with, Professor?"

Based off of the steam pooling out of the professor's ears, Lia knew she'd just made her situation ever more dire.

"Ms Gryffindor, come with me," McGonagall said tartly, leaving no room for negotiation. "I know Mr. Carrow, Ms. Carrow, and Mr. Snape are out here somewhere, as Filius informed me in the owl in which he indicated that the four of you seem to see yourselves above the school rules."

Shrugging, Lia rose to her feet, not daring to glance at where she'd hidden her co-conspirators for fear McGonagall would notice the movement and punish them, too.

"As you can see, Professor, there's no one here, I'm afraid." Lia shook her head sadly. "I haven't a clue where they might have gone. Perhaps Professor Flitwick is confused? They would never stoop so low as to ditch one of his absolutely riveting lessons."

She didn't even bother to conceal the sound of bullshit in her voice. What was the point? The professor knew she was lying. Lia knew she was lying. The people hidden three feet away knew Lia was lying. Might as well keep things simple.

McGonagall's dark eyes scoured the area through her spectacles, even going so far as to give Lia a once-over, as if she could be hiding three seventh year Slytherins beneath her robes.

"Very well," the professor said suspiciously. "Follow me to my office."

Back in the day, Lia would have been mortified to be called to her Head of House's office, and would have no doubt been practically tripping over herself to keep up, but Lia was a different person now, so she followed on leisurely, some distance behind. Just to be particularly insolent, since she was already in a spot of trouble, Lia stopped to complement Peeves on the renovations he was making to the first floor corridor.

"Have you any access to a watch?" McGonagall said when Lia finally deigned to appear in her office. "Because that's the only reason I can think of for all your tardiness."

Lia let herself be seated without prompting from the deputy headmistress, taking her sweet time to answer.

"No, I'm afraid I don't own one anymore. You see, the one that had been passed down through my family was unfortunately buried with my brother a few months ago, so..." she shrugged, making a point of showing more interest in her nails than the conversation, while she shamelessly played the poor orphan card. "I just haven't gotten around to getting a new one. I suppose I could afford another, now that I'm head of my family, though, to be fair, I'm also the _only_ member of my family left. I only won the position by process of elimination, you could say."

"I've gotten word of rather disturbing behavior on your part," McGonagall continued, ignoring Lia's response with admirable focus. "I would never have believed it a year ago—"

"You wouldn't have believed a lot of things a year ago," Lia muttered darkly.

"—but based on your recent behavior I can't say I would be surprised. Sneaking around after hours, not returning to Gryffindor Tower at night, even leaving the grounds? As for the other allegation of drinking, while you are of age, you must know that it is prohibited here at Hogwarts. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"That Sirius is about to learn what happens to snitches." Lia said. "Would you believe it if I said I was framed?"

The professor's eyes narrowed infinitesimally. "This is not the time to be flippant, Ms. Gryffindor. These are serious accusations for the average student, let alone the Head Girl. If you continue on like this, you will not be able to retain that privilege."

"Oh, is that what this is about? So everything's fine if I'm not Head Girl?" Lia dug for the Head Girl badge deep within her pocket and tossed it into the desk atop a pile of immaculately stacked papers. "You can have this back. It's not like I really wanted the job anyway. Give it to someone else, like Evans. She's definitely the goody-two-shoes you're looking for."

For once, McGonagall seemed at a loss. "Now, that's not what I—"

"If this interrogation is over, I think I have a class to be ditching." Lia glanced at the imaginary watch that was definitely not on her wrist for confirmation. "Is that really the time? I can probably still get in a nice twenty minute nap before I ditch Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Lia bid McGonagall farewell and she saw herself out the door and into the corridor.

"This meeting is not over!" McGonagall exclaimed, out of her element. Lia doubted anyone had ever defied the professor to this extent in all her years of teaching, not even Sirius. "Return here at once, or I'll be forced to involve the Headmaster!"

Lia called behind her, "I'll see you in detention, professor. Well... you will if I go!"

Before McGonagall could storm out and drag her back by the the collar, Lia ducked behind an ornate tapestry depicting the nice murder of some poor troll. Personally, Lia feared McGonagall's wrath far more than she feared Voldemort's, so it was in her best interest to skedaddle. When the coast was clear, she continued down the passage, a slight skip in her step.

"Nice try," Lia said, sauntering past Sirius, who'd been skulking around the corner waiting for her to surface.

.

He scowled, leaning up against the opposite entrance of the hidden passage.

"Tattling to McGonagall? Really?" she asked. "I thought you were better than that. Try being original next time. Isn't it hypocritical to run to her about my ditching, while here you are, ditching at the same time?"

"I had to do something." Sirius said, his fist clenching and unclenching around his crosses arms.

"Don't start acting all noble and pretend you've never skipped a class, because we both know that would be a lie." Lia stuttered to a halt and turned on her heel to dig the nail in deeper into the coffin of their friendship, to make sure he left this corridor with no more illusions about reconciliation. "Do you want to know what this is really about? The problem has nothing to do with me and everything to do with your injured ego! I said no to you for years about ditching classes, and now that I said yes to someone else you can't help but be offended. Well, not everything needs to be about you and what you want, Sirius. It's time you moved on. I know I have."

With her piece said, Lia made to leave, though not before Sirius called after her, "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to."

"If you had truly moved on, you wouldn't have stopped for me. You would have kept on going without a word."

Lia didn't respond as she stalked away. There would have been no point.

He was right, after all, and they both knew it.

_**A/N**_

_**I always like to imagine that there's some poor student running late to class just waiting there awkwardly around the corner bc they're too socially awkward to interrupt these sort of arguments lol.**_


	15. XV:Alecto

• — • — •

_Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike._

_—OSCAR WILDE_

• — • — •

"Lia..."

Lia ground her teeth at the sound of that patronising, sing-song tone of voice calling her name.

" Lia... Oh there you are! You're coming with me."

Just as Alecto's brunette head peaked around the bookshelf, Lia slammed her book shut and shoved it indiscriminately back into a random spot between two books of vastly differing heights She glanced up, smiling, as though just noticing Alecto for the first time.

"Is there something the matter?" she asked, hoping the confusion in her voice masked the annoyance boiling beneath it. Usually, a person couldn't force Alecto into the library to save her life.

"Oh no!" Alecto waved a hand dismissively, brushing away the mere thought. "We just have things to discuss outside of present company,"

At the word "present", she looked pointedly at several of the braver Ravenclaw students who'd been driven to sit near where Lia had set herself up due to their own seat availability issues. Given that Lia was now treated as some sort of leper by most of the student body, it truly reflected their desperation to ace their upcoming O.W.L.'s.

"Meet us in the common room in, let's say, three hours? It should be cleared out by then," Alecto said after a moments thought.

"And if it isn't?" Lia asked tentatively.

"I'll send them to sleep the hard way."

Lia didn't dare ask what she meant by that.

"Sure thing," she replied, not feeling sure at all.

Something about Alecto's assertiveness sent alarm bells blaring through Lia's head, but she'd been alone with them plenty of times after hours at this point and lived to tell the tale. Everything would be fine, surely.

"See you then!" Alecto flashed one last cat-like smile, before doing an about-face and skipping off.

There were perhaps two people in this world that Lia feared more than Lord Voldemort, and that grinning, cackling witch earned a spot near the top of the list. Something about her set Lia's skin crawling. She gave off the distinct impression that she'd laugh in Lia's face while stabbing her in the back, but who was Lia to judge, anyway, when that was also her own plan for all of Voldemort's supporters, for Alecto and Amycus and Barty and everyone else?

She would kill them all.

Three hours later, after, at Lia's inquiry, a startled fifth year claimed it to be nearly nine, she grudgingly packed all her things and departed from the library. She rifled through each book in that area a dozen times over anyways. Not a single one on Horcruxes, even in the restricted section. While she commended Dumbledore for not keeping books on such Dark Magic laying around for impressionable students to happen upon, it was frustrating. She needed those for herself, damnit! This impressionable student was in dire need of that Dark Magic!

Lia resigned herself to the fact that she would need to leave the grounds to find anything useful, but with the way the Deputy Headmistress was breathing down her neck recently, it seemed risky. McGonagall already rewarded her with enough detentions to last until her great-grandchildren graduated Hogwarts and Lia had no desire to add more to that list.

Lia ducked through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, praising her good fortune that Sirius and his minions were nowhere to be seen. He'd been suspiciously absent these last few days, making her think he was up to something, but she had more pressing things to worry about than him. On the ever growing list of risks to her life, Sirius ranked in near the bottom, somewhere below butterflies.

Immediately after she passed the empty hearth, a furious orange cat darted out from under one of the overstuffed chairs and began winding herself like a coil between Lia's legs, nearly tripping her.

"Just the kitty I was looking for." She kneeled down, feeling guilty at how rarely she saw her cat nowadays. "Come here, Saber. Come on."

Lia glanced around the Gryffindor common room to find nearly a dozen other students pretending not to watch her out of the corner of their eyes while they attempted, to varying degrees of success, to study for their OWLS and NEWTS. Every time theier eyes accidentally caught on hers, their gazes quickly darted away, probably imagining themselves sly.

Merlin, couldn't they get a life? It was already December for goodness sake! They had had six months to get over whatever this novelty was about her family being killed.

Huffing, she scribbled a quick note for Remus and concealed it on the inside of Sabertooth's collar under the guise of adjusting it. Usually, she'd wait for Remus to come looking for her in the library at night, but she didn't have time for that this time, due to her prior engagement with Alecto. A letter would have to do in case things went awry.

She didn't worry about the note accidentally falling into the wrong hands, because, for some strange reason, Saber absolutely LOVED Remus and despised Sirius in equal measure. Lia chalked it up to an innate cat-dog rivalry.

Before leaving, she gave Saber a stern warning to stick to Remus like glue. She wasn't sure how much the cat understood, but Saber meowed the affirmative, and that was enough for Lia. With one last scratch behind her ears, she was gone.

• — • — •

The Slytherin Common Room was dark when Aeliana finally stepped inside. Whether everyone went to sleep willingly or had been felled by Alecto's nefarious means, Lia didn't want to know.

Severus, Regulus, Barty, Alecto, and Amycus were circled around the large stone fireplace, it's licking flames dancing shadows across their pensive faces.

Severus, who had been whispering something fierce to Alecto, looked up first at the sound of the door clicking shut.

Regulus turned next. He wasted no time leaping to his feet, his sweet smile putting Lia's buried worries to rest. Even if she was pretty certain Alecto could kill her without batting an eyelash, she was equally certain that Regulus could not.

"Sit here by me," he said, bouncing back on the balls of his feet, venting enough pent up energy to light a small village for a year.

Lia did as asked, letting herself be placed between him and Severus on the floor, her back blistering from the fire.

"So," Alecto began, leaning forward from her matriarchal spot on a high backed chair. All she needed, Lia mused, was to stroke a cat on her lap and she'd be the picture of pure villainy. "We've gotten to know you these last few months, and you have promise, but we really don't know you, understand?" She didn't wait for a response. "We've decided to ask you a few questions to see if you really belong around us and our _other_ friends."

Lia felt her heart rate double when at the words "_other friends_." If that wasn't synonymous with "Death Eaters," then she'd eat a hippogriff with a blunt spoon. Now was Lia's chance; she couldn't screw it up.

"To start, what do you think is our place in the world? Wizardkind, I mean." Alecto cocked her head like a cat examining a particularly tasty mouse.

_Alright, Aeliana. Time to bullshit this out of the water. What would a bunch of over zealous pure-bloods want to hear?_

She cleared her throat.

"It's only logical that we would be on top. We were given these special abilities to subjugate those weaker than us, to lead them, as they do to those weaker than them."

"And what of pure-bloods?"

"Well we can't have muggle borns in charge. They would be sympathetic to their weakling parents. What do they really know of the wizarding world, anyways?"

Each word tasted sour as it left her mouth, but the way Regulus squeezed her hand and the triumph brewing in Alecto's eyes made Lia confident she'd answered correctly.

"Naturally, pure bloods should lead us, because they have fewest fetters binding them to muggle weakness," she finished.

"Good..." Alecto purred. She looked around at the others. "I think she passed. Boys?" She didn't wait for either ascent or dissent before plowing forward. "Our master has expressed interest in you. If you pass the last test, you can help him make all of our dreams become reality!"

Her voice held such fervour that Lia was almost awed by the shear amount of singleminded devotion.

Lia looked to Regulus, the one among them she found most comforting, and asked, trying to hide her nerves, "What's... what's the last test?"

"It's easy. You don't have to do anything. All he does is look into your mind to see your loyalty to him and the cause." He shrugged carelessly. "Nothing to worry about, really."

Lia begged to differ on that one. It might be a bit of an issue when he looked into her mind and saw her burning desire to drop kick him into a volcano. Funny enough, she didn't voice that particular concern.

"He's been wanting to meet you for some time," Alecto shared, oblivious to the fact that this was in fact the second time she had done so. "With the holidays coming up, when we can leave the castle without raising suspicion, he decided that would be the best time."

"The holidays? But that's... Christmas break begins in two days!"

Lia had no time to plan anything, no time to get ready. Was that why they were only telling her now? To catch her off guard?

"You'll come home with me," Regulus explained, smiling. "I'm sure mum'll be pleased."

Unless she's been replaced with a ghoul, Lia highly doubt it. When had she ever been pleased?

"We'll send information on where we're going to be meeting to you there, when he decides to let you see him," Severus added blandly.

"Now that that's settled, I'm going to bed," Alecto announced, standing up and stretching for emphasis. "Better start packing your bags."

With a last conspiratorial wink, she was gone.


	16. XVI:Memories

**• — • — •**

_**There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.**_

_**—GEORGE CARLIN**_

_**• — • — •**_

It was well passed three in the morning by the time Aeliana managed to creep out of the Slytherin Common Room to meet Remus. As she darted from corner to corner trying to dodge past Filch, she worried Remus might have gotten fed up and left already, given that she'd said to be there over an hour before. Lia had done her damnedest to escape that snake-den, but Alecto was a difficult person to shake after she sunk her fangs in.

Lia discovered Remus fast asleep atop the bed, leaning against the splintering wooden walls of the shrieking shack. Even sleeping, with his brows furrowing worry lines across his forehead, he looked troubled. The shrieking shack didn't hold fond memories for him, she supposed, especially as it was now, frigid from to harsh winter and thin walls.

Watching him clutching his robes close in sleep for warmth, Lia regretted asking him to come all the way out. He had enough on his plate without freezing half to death in the middle of the night to listen to _her_ problems. How could any of her issues really compare to transforming into an unstoppable monster once a month?

Just as she resolved to leave him be, however, he stirred.

"Lia?" he questioned groggily.

"Yeah," she finally admitted after some hesitation by the door. "I'm here."

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd show," he yawned, sitting up straighter and readjusting where his robes had slipped to expose him to icy midnight air.

"You do know you're a wizard, right?" Lia conjured a small floating fire in the centre of the drafty room between them. Despite its size, a wave of warmth wash over her, offering instant relief from the bitter cold. "Amazing, isn't it? Almost like magic."

He shrugged. "Alas, that's why you made Head Girl and not me."

"I feel like there may have been a few other interfering factors that prevented you from being Head Girl, Remus, but who am I to judge."

"You know what I mean," he laughed, then turned serious. "So what was it you wanted to talk about? That note you left on your devil cat barely said anything."

"I left it so if something happened when I went to talk to our little Slytherin friends you would know who to pin my gruesome death on, but," she sighed, looking up to the heavens dramatically, "a whole lot of help you would have been, sleeping through my grisly murder."

Lia tacked on an extra sigh of despair at the end, just so he would know she was just pulling his leg.

"And?" he prompted, not buying her bullshit for a second. "Have you been murdered?"

"You wish." Lia took a deep breath. "They've decided... to take me to see him — Voldemort."

"That's... good, right? That's what you wanted?" he asked, trying to decipher her expression, and why she wasn't bouncing up and down.

"It is," she reassured him. "But there's still one final test when I meet him before I can join."

When she didn't continue, Remus intervened.

"And that is?"

"Voldemort — he's going to look into my mind, to determine my loyalty." Lia glanced briefly at Remus to view his speechless expression, before darting her gaze away again, chewing her bottom lip. "But I have an idea. A bad idea, but it's my only shot. I can't kill him yet, and I can't back down, either. I'll be killed immediately if I don't try. So much could go wrong, I know th—"

"You're rambling," Remus cut in. "Just come out and say it. I'll decide how bad it is after you tell me."

"Here goes nothing," Lia muttered under her breath, bracing for a flat refusal. But she needed him for it to work. Everything hinged on his cooperation. Steeling herself, she looked up, fixing her eyes directly on his, willing him to understand how much she needed him to accept. "You have to mess with my head first, before he gets the chance. You need to beat him to it."

Shocked silence followed the statement. Remus opened his mouth several times, but seemed to not know what to say.

Finally, he decided on the old classic, "Are you _insane_?"

Lia nodded. All things considered, he was taking it better than she thought he would. "Insane" wasn't a flat "no".

"That's a possibility," she conceded.

"This is no time for jokes, Lia," he hissed, running a hand through his sandy hair in frustration.

"I wasn't joking. You have to do this — for my brother!"

"I don't give a damn about your brother!" he shouted with surprising vehemence, shocking the retort forming on Lia's lips right out of her head. "I'm not doing this for him! I'm not doing anything for him, Lia."

"Then why?" It made no sense. "Why did you agree to help me?"

Remus squeezed his eyes shut and looked away, as though merely breathing the same air as Lia pissed him off. She'd never seen him so furious, least of all at her.

"Why don't you take a guess," he said, cold.

After he didn't continue, she realized he actually expected an answer. "I... um..."

"Close enough. You. I don't care about your brother. I care about you. I'm doing this to help _you_, not to satisfy some petty revenge plot." He said it tonelessly, as though explaining simple addition to a teenager that should know better. "But I can't just — just mess around with your brain! That's complex magic, and even if I get it right, which is a big 'if,' there's no guarantee I'll be able to undo it later!" He took a calming breath. "I won't do it, Lia. This is where I draw the line. I'll help you on any of your other crazy schemes, but I won't be the one who hurts you or gets you killed."

Lia rose up from her rickety, half destroyed chair to tower over him from where he sat on the bed.

She tried, and failed, to keep her voice level as she said, "This is my only shot! You must see that? If I don't do something, there's a one hundred percent chance I'll walk in to meet Voldemort and be killed on the spot! At least, this way, I'll have a chance."

She didn't want to do it, but he was looking away, jaw clenched and unwavering, so she rolled up a sleeve. The thin, almost invisible, ivy lines spiralled up her arm, an ever present reminder of the vow they made all those months ago. It was a low blow, but if he didn't help, they both knew he'd die, too.

"You swore," Lia reminded him, voice low. "You swore you'd help, and I need you for this. I'd choose being hurt by you over being killed by Voldemort any day. I need you. You're the only person I trust enough to do this."

He didn't say anything for several moments, only working his jaw furiously and clenching his fist where the scars of their vow gleamed faintly.

She'd just about given up, when he finally whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear, "I'm not good enough."

"You are," Lia promised, taking his hand and settling down beside him on the bed. "I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't absolutely positive you could."

"What do I need to do?" he asked, his eyes tracing the spiralling lines making their way up her arm. His voice was hollow, defeated, yet somehow still determined.

"It's simple, really," Lia rushed to reassure him before he lost his nerve. "All you need to do is a memory charm. Make me believe I'm loyal to Voldemort. I must believe it myself if I even have a hope of him believing it. Hide everything suspicious."

"Even your family?"

"Especially them. Take away any joy they ever brought me and leave only the bad. This has to be authentic."

"What then? You'll be just like the rest of them, waiting on him, hand and foot." Luckily, Remus didn't sound opposed anymore, just hesitant, looking at all the ways it could go wrong.

"The memories are never really gone. Using magic, people can crack memory charms all the time, if they try hard enough, but Voldemort won't be expecting it, you see?" Lia gripped his hand tighter, until it was white as a sheet of parchment. The more she spoke, the more certain she felt it could work. "He's arrogant. He already believes that I want to join him, solely because I'm pure-blooded and have been hanging around his youngest recruits. Looking into my head is only to confirm what he's already certain he knows. It can work!"

"So..." Remus said slowly. "You want me to leave a back door?"

Lia could barely contain her enthusiasm as she confirmed, "A few days after he confirms I'm a raving lunatic, you have to jump me in some dark alley and set everything straight. I doubt I'll be very compliant, though, if you did a good job warping my memory."

"Not many people sound so excited about getting jumped in a dark alley," Remus mused, with a hint of a smile.

"Not many people are stupid enough to try so many harebrained schemes where a murdering psychopath is concerned, so maybe I'm just an idiot," Lia pointed out. It was nice to be able to laugh at the absurdity of it all instead getting hung up over how far off the rails her life had gone.

"Who's the real idiot, the person who comes up with the insane idea, of the one that goes along with it?" he asked, nudging her playfully with his elbow, their harsh words behind them.

"You're right. You _are_ the real fool here," she conceded.

"Do I need to shove you to the floor?" he asked, and though she wasn't looking at him, she heard the smile in his voice.

"Err...What I meant to say was that I'm the real idiot, me, Aeliana. What an ignoramus I am. You, Remus, by comparison, are the incarnation of Merlin himself, the wisest, least foolish man I've ever known. His greatness is only oversha-"

Lia fell crashing to the floor.

"You pushed me!" she laughed, more surprised than annoyed. "I can't believe you actually pushed me!"

"You have that affect on people," he responded, failing to keep a serious tone.

"And here I thought you were the nice one in your gang of misfits."

"I'd reconsider that assumption."

Lia pulled herself back onto the bed, a safe distance away.

"There is no trust in this relationship anymore," she declared, eyeing him warily.

"You know, it's kind of funny," he began, shaking his head. "This all began by you attempting to erase my memory, and now I'm about to erase yours."

"Don't get carried away! You're not erasing all of it. Just enough to trick my mind into thinking I support Voldemort. Then, in a few days, you'll set it all straight."

"I sure hope so," he muttered under his breath.

"You can do it," she encouraged, taking his hand again. "I believe in you. I mean, could you imagine if I tried giving Sirius full access to my memories?"

Remus snorted. "I don't even want to think about it. He'd have a field day."

"You got that right. So let's get started."

She stood up, but Remus didn't follow.

"What, you mean, right now?" he asked, slightly panicked.

"Of course," she said, confused. "Why wouldn't we? I leave with them in less than two days. When would we have another chance? I doubt waiting until tomorrow would change much."

He swallowed, apprehensive. "Fine, but you should probably lay down for this. I don't really know...I don't want you to fall over," he finished lamely.

Lia nodded, laying down onto the scratchy blanket covering the bed as he rose to his feet. Shakily, he pulled out his wand. For awhile, he simply stared at it, steeling his resolve.

"Any day now," she pressed. "Let's get this over with. Just remember, I probably won't be this compliant when you try and change my memory back. Be careful."

"I don't think you should be worried about me right now," he managed, looking like he might be sick.

She was scared. She trusted him to do this more than anyone else in the world, and she wasn't worried he'd mess up, per se. She supposed, she was afraid that it wouldn't work, but she was also afraid it would work, if that made any sense. On the one hand, if Voldemort somehow saw through it, then she'd be killed. On the other hand, if it worked perfectly, she worried over the person that would make her. What if she liked it?

It were these thoughts that plagued Lia's conscience as Remus raised his wand to her head.

"_Obliviate_!"


	17. XVII:Brainwashed

• — • — •

_**I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.**_

—OSCAR WILDE

• — • — •

"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Aeliana."

Voldemort's voice slithered over her like a soft caress. Aeliana shivered with an uneven mixture of pent up anticipation and delight. She'd been waiting for this moment for so long.

"Thank you, my lord. You flatter me more than I deserve. It is I who have been wanting to meet you," Lia replied, meaning every word.

He stepped forward, gesturing for her to rise from her steep bow. Around them, a dozen Death Eaters crowded the Great Hall of Malfoy Manor, each with their face concealed by a dark mask. Lia, alone, wore her regular robes, as opposed to their elaborate dark twisting folds.

"I must admit, I'd always hoped the Gryffindors would side by my cause. A shame how things turned out. I would have liked to avoid spilling such rare, pure blood," Voldemort said.

"_No_! It is I who am ashamed, my lord. I am sorry for how my family behaved, and I hope you will not judge me by their foolishness, my lord," Lia begged, gripped by a foreign passion. "Even if it is just me now, the Gryffindor line would like nothing more than to make your dream our own."

"Yes, that's what I hoped," he mused, circling slowly around her, his long, draping robes trailing behind. "But I need proof of your loyalty."

"Anything, my lord," she replied earnestly. "I would do anything for you."

She meant every word. Her heart ached to serve him; it was the only thing she really wanted. Her parents were fools for turning their backs on him. As far as she was concerned, the world was better off with them gone.

"Then open your mind," he said, placing a cold finger to her temple. "Let me see your desire to serve me."

"Of course, my lord." Lia shut her eyes, savouring the feeling of his cool skin against hers.

Slowly, she lowered all the wards protecting her mind. After living so long with them present, she forgot the vulnerable feeling of an exposed mind. It was like being naked, alone in the middle of a sandy beach. She could feel each breeze with a sharp, cutting clarity, except it wasn't a breeze at all, but this new, foreign mind.

Deep down, somewhere, a part of her screamed to throw her walls back in place as Lord Voldemort dived through her memories. Lia frowned at the urge. Why would she want to keep him out? This was all she ever wanted... right?

She saw what he saw as he rifled through her head. Her annoyance at her old, idiot friends for wanting to keep her away from Lord Voldemort, the desperate search to find out everything that she could about him, her joy when Regulus and them said she would finally get to meet their master, and even her confusion the time Sirius kissed her a few days after her family's funeral. The thought of Sirius sent a shot something burning through her, but what? The emotion dissipated almost immediately, so fast she was certain she'd imagined it.

By the end of it, her mind felt rubbed raw, weak from overexertion, but Voldemort seemed satisfied. He took a solitary step back and turned to the assembled Death Eaters, his arms spread wide in welcome.

"My friends," he began, diplomatically, "today our ranks grow by one, and not just anyone, but by a person whose noble lineage nearly matches my own. Meet our newest addition, the last heir of Gryffindor!"

Elation rose like a balloon at his words. Nothing could have matched the pure jubilation thundering through her veins at that moment.

"Your wand arm," Lord Voldemort ordered. striding back towards her.

Without hesitation, Lia rolled up the sleeve covering her left arm and held it out. He pulled out his wand with one hand and grasping her arm firmly with the other. He was unnaturally cold, like a corpse pulled from a freezing lake, yet his grip remained tight as a vice, almost painfully so.

Then his wand made contact with her forearm. In an instant, it was like her arm went from being in a pail of ice water to being shoved into a bucket of searing lava. Her breathing came out in uneven huffs as she tried to hold in the scream bubbling up her throat.

As quickly as it began, it was over. Lia collapsed onto her side, clutching her new brand close to her heart. Her very own Dark Mark. Her own part of him.

"Th-thank you, my lord," she gasped breathlessly, scrambling back to her feet. "Thank you. Thank you..."

"Congratulations, Aeliana. Welcome to your new family. I look foreword to talking with you soon."

With that, he strode out the great double doors, a massive snake sliding across the tiles after him. The moment he was gone, Regulus appeared by her side to lend a supporting hand.

"C'mon, let's get outta here, Lia," he murmured, pulling her from the room out the back door, Severus close behind. "We still have a lot to explain, now that you're in."

She flinched as he accidentally brushed the Mark.

"That area will feel sensitive for the next few days," Severus observed coolly.

"I don't care, so long as I am able to serve," was Lia's only reply.

He speared her a cryptic look that she couldn't hope to decipher. Why was he looking at her like that? It wasn't like she had changed or anything.

• — • — •

Weeks flew by in an instant. Even as Barty, Regulus, and Severus returned to Hogwarts, Aeliana elected to stay behind alongside Alecto and Amycus at Lord Voldemort's behest.

Lia couldn't help but grin as she exited the dingy old pub in Nocturn Ally. It took all her willpower to not skip on the way out. Lord Voldemort had finally agreed to let her in on his big operations, after nearly a month of dogging his heels. Now, she could finally prove herself worthy of his trust.

As she ducked into a dimly lit alley behind Borgan Burkes, a shortcut back to Diagon Ally, however, her ears caught the soft pounding of footsteps upon cobblestones closing in behind her. At first, she considered the idea that maybe someone else was about to be jumped in this darklit, abandoned alley, but ultimately kicked that idea to the curb when the pace increased, now accompanied by hushed words hissed back and forth.

Four figures hurtled around the corner, wands at the ready, not expecting Lia to be expecting them. They might have gotten the hint the moment her first spell hit its mark, the amber light radiating off the curse momentarily enveloping the three others. The fourth lay face down and still on the ground, but Lia didn't need to see his dumpy frame to guess who he was. Given his company, Remus, Sirius, and James, she didn't need to be a genius to know that Peter Pettigrew would never be far behind, and, by the rotten luck that had plagued him his whole life, he happened to be the one to get hit.

But that still didn't explain why they cornered her here while they should have been at school.

"Lia," Sirius huffed, chest heaving wildly from exertion. "We finally found you."

"Sirius, don't—" Remus tried to warn him, but it was already too late.

Lia fired, but James, catching on quickly, shoved his friend out of the way and deflected the curse with a flick of his wand.

Sirius stumbled back in shock. "What're you doing—"

Not waiting a second, she turned and sprinted down the alleyway away from her pursuers, firing off another spell over her shoulder for good measure as she went.

The rumble of brick and cobblestone raining down behind her alerted Lia to the success of her spell. James could easily block direct curses, but he'd have a hell of a time trying to block an explosion. Lia slowed out of her sprint to admire the fruits of her labour.

Utter devastation. Half of a building's wall was blasted apart, while the once pristine cobbled street lay upturned and in ruins. With no small amount of satisfaction, she noted that her pursuers had been caught within the blast, utterly unconscious and half buried beneath rubble.

One body, two, three... wait. where's the fourth?

Just as it clicked that Remus wasn't lying there with the others, something shoved her from behind. Remus striking her hard into the ground, forcing her to use her hands to break the fall lest she break her nose, and forcing her to forsake her wand in the process. Before she could recover, a heavy force slammed atop her spine, stealing the breath from her lungs and pinning both of her hands with one of his own. With his other, he brought his wand to her temple, and in an exhausted gasp, began whispering an unintelligible incantation.

Lia thrashed wildly, but the weight of his body atop hers prevented any escape. Her last frenzied thought before he finished the spell was, _What the hell is he about to do to me?_

She was only dimly aware of a voice murmuring in her ear, saying, "I'm not going to hurt you," but obviously he was lying. Remus was her enemy, after all. Why else would he pin her to the ground? He stood against Lord Voldemort, and that made him her enemy. He wanted to kill her.

A dam broke in her mind, flooding it with new images, new memories. Memories of pain and fear, but also purpose. Too much information and emotion for her consciousness to handle and before long she felt herself being pulled under, slipping into the peaceful darkness.

It could have been seconds later or hours, but Lia eventually awoke to a throbbing temple, exacerbated by someone roughly shaking her shoulders.

"Come on, you need to wake up," they hissed. "Right now!"

That voice. Remus. The plan. It actually worked? Wait, where did that thought come from? What plan?

Slowly, order washed through her haphazard jumble of thoughts and Lia made sense of the new re-emerging memories that had hidden themselves.

"Did you seriously jump me in a dark alley? I was only joking when I suggested it," she mumbled, rising to a sitting position.

"This isn't the time," Remus replied, looking back at the still bodies of Sirius, James, and Wormtail.

"Are they alright? I didn't mean to hurt them —I mean, I did at the time, but—"

"They'll be fine," he reassured her anxiously, "but you won't be if you don't get out of here now. People will have heard all the commotion, even this late at night. They'll be coming to check it out, and I don't know when they," he pointed his finger over his shoulder at his friends, "will wake up."

He dragged Lia into a standing position, forced her wand back into her hand, and stepped back.

"You'll have to knock me out, too, if we don't want them to be suspicious." He swallowed hard. "We'll talk... later. Just — just send me a message somehow and I'll be there. We'll sort things out then."

"Remus... I can't knock you out!" Lia took a staggering step back.

"Just do it quickly! We haven't much time!"

He grabbed her wand and placed the tip at the centre of his chest, refusing to let go even when she attempted to draw away.

"I can't do it!" she insisted, shaking her head wildly.

Over his shoulder, Lia could see Sirius stirring amongst the rubble.

"Come on! Do it!"

"No!"

"Now!" he yelled, digging her wand deeper into his chest with one hand and shaking her shoulder roughly with the other.

"Stupefy!" Lia cried, letting the spell fly from her lips, because he was right. She'd come so far and couldn't afford to waste everything just because she didn't want to hex one friend.

The close proximity of the attack propelled Remus backwards several feet, where he collapsed over the dusty pile of rubble. The scene of Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius all lying unconscious on a field of debris and knowing she was the one that put them there struck hard at her core. Somewhere, in seeking out her revenge, Lia crossed a line she wasn't sure she could come back from.

She could have been mistaken, but a second before she Apparated she could have sworn she saw Sirius raise his head to meet her eyes, something almost like longing peaking through under the blood trickling down his face from his temple. It didn't matter, though. She was already gone.

_"I'm sorry_," she whispered to Remus, to Sirius, and to who she once was, because there was no going back now. "_I'd do it again."_


End file.
